Happy Wednesday!

I got a lot of replies to last week’s email about being more selfish…

Several of you told me The Fault In Our Stars is a great read, so I’ve added it to my ever-expanding reading list.

One of you suggested I also read Ayn Rand’s The Virtue of Selfishness.

And a few of you shared some personal stories with me around the idea of being selfish.

Or not being selfish enough.

I always read and appreciate anything you have to share, so keep ‘em coming.

Thank you!

Today I’d like to revisit the idea of our unique money personalities…

This is ground I’ve tilled before and will certainly do so again in the future.

Here are a handful of past articles related to our personal relationship with money which you can click and read if you’re interested:

• Routine Maintenance
• Survivor along with Your Financial Survival Instincts
• The Pizza Hut Incident of 1984
• Perspective
• Money = Emotions

In truth, our personal - and often unconscious - approach to money permeates virtually all my writing and each and every one of our lives.

This is on my mind after recently stumbling across an article that ultimately led me to Money Habitudes.

Money Habitudes is a short assessment you can go through to help identify how you relate to each of their six “habitudes” around money.

At a high level, here’s how it works:

For each of the short statements you’re shown, you simply categorize it as:

1. “That’s me”
2. “Sometimes, it depends”
3. “That’s not me”

And that’s the assessment. Simple and straightforward.

There is no right or wrong. You don’t pass or fail.

It’s simply a tool designed to provide another perspective or level of insight into how you view and interact with money.

Since I’m endlessly curious about this sorta thing, I went through the assessment myself.

But before I share more about my results, let me share a little more about what a “habitude” is and how they can show up in our lives.

From the folks at Money Habitudes:

I like the term “habitude” as it feels familiar and not too touchy-feely or woo-woo while still introducing a new idea.

Here are a couple of relatable examples:

Notice that both examples above reference experiences early in life that can have a lasting, life-long impact on how we see the world around us.

Whether it’s about dogs or money or something else.

And the “early in life” part is how and why we often carry these ideas with us into adulthood and our later years without even realizing it.

Here’s a summary from my personal Money Habitudes report which is over 20 pages long:

I’ve got to be honest that my first instinct is to defend my appearance as not being a “giving” person.

However, I’m gonna fight that urge and just let the above speak for itself, for better or worse.

Given the work I do, you may not be surprised to see I have a dominant planning habitude, but again… there is no right or wrong here.

I could take this same assessment on another day and perhaps I would get a slightly different result.

If this sort of thing fascinates you as much as it does me, you can go here and get your own Money Habitudes assessment for about $15.

This could be super interesting for you and your spouse or significant other to both take and then discuss. Would probably make for an interesting conversation.

Let me know if you go through it. And I’d welcome the opportunity to discuss it with you if you like. I’m just an email away 😉

Something I’ve been thinking about recently is the idea that your financial success - no matter how you personally define success - depends MUCH more on your behavior than it does your balance sheet.

There are many tips, tools, & techniques out there to help you better understand yourself and your relationship with money.

Money Habitudes is just the most recent that I’ve discovered.

And I like it.

How about you?

What do you think about this idea of Money Habitudes?

Are there any other tools or resources you’ve found helpful in exploring your attitudes and beliefs around money?

Hit reply and let me know…