Cash a personal matter

Just as research has shown that you can be born with a dominant personality, studies have also shown that some are born with a dominant money personality.
Knowing how your money personality shows up in your life may give you an understanding of why and how you handle money.
Here are the six different money personalities:
The Aristocrat: Thinks money isn't important and can't be bothered worrying about it. They have far too many other important things to do.
The Saver: Loves to save for both things they want to buy and in case they need money for something unexpected.
The Hoarder: Hates to spend money and finds it very hard to share what they have. Often goes without something important just to avoid spending their cash.
The Spender: They're so busy having a good time that they often spend more than they earn and is usually broke before next payday.
The Avoider: Dives for cover the minute the bills arrive. Always late making payments and often ends up in court for bad debts.
The Safety Player: They're so afraid of making a mistake that they avoid making any financial decisions - even small ones.
Two other money personalities which I haven't mentioned are the victim and the rescuer. These two types of money personalities are at the opposite ends of the scale. Surprisingly enough, they are often found together in relationships which work for a while until one decides they don't want to play this game anymore. The victim tends to blame others, lives in the past, is financially irresponsible, wants to be rescued, is addictive, and feels powerless. For the victim's mentality to change, he or she must learn from past financial mistakes.
On the other hand, the rescuer loves to rescue, go guarantor, bails others out as they somehow feel responsible for their mates lack of financial intelligence. The rescuer needs to come to a place where they recognise that they are really hindering the victim from realising they are responsible for their own good and bad financial decisions.
So which money personality do you most closely identify with? You could be a mixture of more than one. Be careful about saying, "I was born like that so there isn't anything I can do about it." You have a choice to be financially well or financially sick.

Sylvia Bowden is the author of the book Parents: How to Stop Your Kids From Going Broke!, written to help parents teach their children money and life skills. Her book is available from some Paper Plus store and her website www.silbo.co.nz