How Your Personality Affects Your Finance Management Ability.

Have you heard about personality traits, which is basically an offshoot of the basic temperament we're born with? I guess you have. Since the subject of temperament is not really a new one, as it was first made known to us by an ancient Greek physician Hippocrates. He believed in the theory of humorism, in which he classified everyone as air, 🔥 fire, earth and water. Sanguines are classified as air, meaning that they're free and ubiquitous personalities. Choleric are the closest to sanguines, they're being classified as fire, absolutely quick and hot personalities. While melancholies and all phlegmatics were classified as earth and water respectively. 

Furthermore, these four personalities were further categorized into extroverts and introverts by a Swiss psychiatrist, Carl Jung. Sanguines and cholerics are clearly grouped as extroverts, while melancholies and phlegmatics are typical introverts. It's important to know that everyone is born with a particular temperament or blends of temperaments, that's the genes that were transferred to you during your conception. We took off these genes from our parents, and even more from our grandparents. The temperament we're born with determines who we are, and how we do things. Which apparently defines our personality traits.

This post is not aimed at delving in detail into the subject of temperament. But to know more about the temperament and it's influence on every aspects of our life, you could visit my blog on personality traits and temperaments, and read everything you need to know about it. In today's post, we want to focus our attention on how our personality which is clearly a consequence of the temperament we're born with, often affects how we manage our finances.

How Your Personality Affects The Way You Manage Your Finances:

Our temperament have an overwhelming influence on our individual personality. And our personality traits defines who we are, and how we do things. No one can act, react or behave outside  the temperament they're born with. Temperament rarely changes, eventhough education, societal Influences and parental upbringing could attempt to modify or tweak it a little, but it really does not change it, as we'll often be seen yielding unknowingly to it's influence and control on our attitudes.

Everybody has got different characters and attitudes associated with them, kudos to their inherited temperament. Even in terms of managing and handling finances, different temperament categories has got specific and distinct way they often handle and manage their money. And this is what we're going to be considering in today's post. 

Am hoping that, after reading this post, you'll be able to know the temperament category you belong, and how you handle or manage your finances. Secondly, you'll improve in your finance management skill and ability.

How A Typical Sanguine Manages Money:

Sanguines are highly spontaneous and impulsive individuals, whose feelings and emotions rather than logical reasoning often predetermines their actions. None other temperament can be more impulsive than a typical sanguine. For strategic and detailed planning are rarely part of his lifestyle. Thus, he's the least person to plan his finance nor prepare a budget before going for shopping. Another major weakness of a typical sanguine is, lack of self-discipline and control. Sanguines are flamboyant and overindulgent persons, who do not have the discipline to regulate or hold back themselves from pleasurable and fun moments. They're easily attracted by flashes of beauty and whatever that'll satisfy their emotions.

Buying the most expensive clothes, shoes and wristwatches just to impress friends and admirers, when he's got more pressing needs at home is not uncommon for pure sanguines. For a typical sanguine, there's never a dull moment. For he lives for the moment, rarely considering what'll happen tomorrow.

This lifestyle and traits of sanguines often negatively affects how they manage and handle their finances. They're impulsive buyers, who rarely sticks to their budget even if they've got one. A sanguine could spend his last penny to buy something he never planned for, as long as it will satisfy his want and desire for that moment. This spontaneous and extravagant spending lifestyle of sanguines makes them unable to save money, and they consequently go bankrupt more often than not.

Sanguines must as a matter of necessity be deliberate about improving their money management ability through being more self-disciplined, if they want to overcome bankruptcy and remain financially stable. Since lack of self-discipline is a sanguine's major temperament weakness, they need to learn how to manage their temperament weaknesses through building relationship with other more disciplined and resolute temperaments.

How Cholerics Manages Their Finance:

Cholerics are also extroverts like their typical sanguine counterpart. But unlike sanguines, cholerics are more disciplined, deliberate and determined personalities. However, cholerics rarely also make do with budget nor plan their expenses just like the sanguines. They could be at times spontaneous like sanguines, but theirs is not to satisfy their emotions, they're rarely emotional people. But it's to just quickly get what they want or get things done, and move on to something else asap. Typical cholerics are usually big spenders who are very determined to get what they want or desire regardless of the cost. However, they're more financially disciplined than sanguines, because they know what they want, and will go for it, rarely considering any other option. Cholerics loves to go for the very best and the most important to them. If it's not the best, or what they really want, forget it. They're very difficult to convince to buy something just to please you or anyone for that matter, but only if it pleases them.

However, because of their hardworking nature, productivity and self-sufficiency, cholerics rarely go broke or bankrupt. When they spend, they always believe they've got what it takes to make the money. Thus, there's absolutely no need being scared of spending big to get what they want. No other temperament loves taking risk more than cholerics. For they're extremely decisive, courageous and also fearless when it comes to taking on big challenges. Although, cholerics are rarely good money managers or handlers, but they sure know how to make the money. And their ability to take calculated money risks when it matters, has made many of them become financially successful. But if cholerics wants to be financially stable and remain afloat financially, then they'll need to be more deliberate about having a budget or plan their expenditures ahead of time.

How Melancholies Manages Their Finances:

Melancholies belongs to the introvert category of the temperaments. They're the second most introverted individuals after the phlegmatics. Melancholies are highly disciplined, meticulous, analytical, detailed and intelligent personalities with a knack for perfectionism. They've got very high standards, which are usually self-imposed. Their perfectionist tendencies makes them feel underachieved and very unsatisfied whenever they do not achieve their goals one hundred percent. If a melancholy does not implement his budget one hundred percent, he's never satisfied, and will often complain. No other temperament can be more perfectionism-prone than typical melancholies. He often honestly questions everything, and loves to get a very honest and satisfactory answer.

There's nothing a melancholy does without having a detailed plan, strategy or set rules and procedures. This lifestyle no doubt often reflects in his finance management ability. Melancholies are the most frugal spenders of all the temperaments. For they're difficult to be convinced to spend outside their budget. You'll often find it difficult convincing a melancholy to buy something he never planned for, especially when he's done preparing his budget, unless he sees a better option or gets a better deal. This lifestyle makes some persons considers them to be stingy, not really that they are. But they sure must plan their expenses ahead of time, else it will be very hard for them to spend. Sometimes, a melancholy's mood swings do affects he could spend his money.

At times when his mood is up that he feels very happy and excited, he could without much struggle spend like a typical choleric or sanguine. But at other times when his mood is totally down, perhaps feeling sad and depressed, he's the hardest person to convince to buy anything or even request money from. No other temperament is more budgeting and planning conscious than a typical melancholy. Sticking to his budget is a matter of discipline, which he's got more than enough. Thus, this lifestyle no doubt makes melancholies rarely go bankrupt, for they must save for the rainy and economically depressive days. 

However, melancholies must be deliberate and be more open to taking some big and major financial invest opportunities that often comes their way, and also be more responsive to other persons genuine financial needs, if they want to be more financially successful.

How Phlegmatics Manages Their Finances:

Phlegmatics are the closest temperament to the melancholies, and they're the most introverted of all the temperaments. Some of the major weaknesses of phlegmatics are lack of self-motivation and indecision. Phlegmatics are rarely decisive people, and the least motivated of all the four basic temperaments. Though also a very good money manager like the melancholy, who also plans his expenses and prepares his budget ahead of time, but unlike his melancholy counterpart, phlegmatics rarely sticks to, or follow through with their budget to the latter. For very tempting and nice offers, suggestions from their friends and supporters and other factors could make them easily change their mind.

Phlegmatics are easily convinced to change their minds or backtrack from their decisions. They could have a particular item in mind while going for shopping, but they'll get to the mall and get carried away by other products or items they see there, or perhaps get convinced by the sales rep to jettison the particular product they're used to. Phlegmatics often likes the easy option as long as it will make them feel  momentarily happy and relaxed. Although, they've got good money management skill and ability, but phlegmatics needs to be more decisive and deliberate about they want, in order to avoid spending on things they do not need or have got less need of.

Conclusively, our temperaments is no doubt responsible for our personality traits, which basically influences our attitudes and how we do things, including how we manage our finances. In order to become a better manager of your finances , you must understand your temperament weaknesses which also affects how you handle 💰 money, and do well to manage it.