What’s Your Financial Personality

Intro: Welcome to Christian Financial Perspectives, where you’re invited to gain insight, wisdom, and knowledge about how Christians integrate their faith, life, and finances with a biblical worldview. Here’s your Christian Financial advisors host, Bob Barber and his co-host, Shawn Peters. Shawn: Welcome to another episode of Christian Financial Perspectives. So glad that you joined us today. We are gonna be covering a really interesting topic on financial personalities. If you do enjoy financial topics from a Christian perspective, love for you to hit that subscribe button and just get more content like this in your inbox. But it also does help the channel and helps other people who might be looking for this same kind of content. So, today we’re gonna be covering what’s your financial personality, and I’m gonna send it over to Bob to give us a little intro. Bob: Okay. I sure will. Shawn, we each have different, like, there’s the different financial temperaments. So, we have the different financial personalities, and I break this down into the Saver, Spender, Giver, and Investor. So first, we’re gonna start off with the Saver. And I have a feeling that every one of you are going to relate to one of these financial personalities. I think a good balanced approach to all of them is the best approach. But I have a tendency to be one of these, and I have a feeling a lot of you will have a tendency to be stronger in one of these financial personalities than the others. So, as we’re going along, just think about it and maybe you’ll relate, see how you relate to this, Shawn. Shawn: That’s right. So, the first one we’re gonna cover is the Saver, and Savers are naturally frugal. Bob: Yes, they are. Shawn: Savers rarely make purchases with credit cards, or if they do, it is definitely paid off within weeks. Bob: And they have very little debt. They don’t like debt at all. They don’t like paying interest and they don’t even like it when they’re young, Shawn. I mean, they just don’t like debt. Shawn: Savers are not concerned about following the latest trends, as they get more satisfaction from reading the interest on a bank statement than from acquiring something new. Savers are conservative by nature and don’t take big risk with their investments. Bob: Hey, Shawn, do we know anybody like this? Shawn: No, I don’t. Oh, my wife. Oh, yes. Your daughter. Bob: I have to actually tell Jenna sometimes, Jenna, go spend some money. It’s okay. Shawn: I’ve had to learn if I don’t buy, if I don’t buy her an actual gift, I have to give her a gift card that has to basically be used on her, you know? If I give her a Visa gift card or just something where you can use on anything, she’ll just use it for groceries or something. Bob: Yeah, yeah. The Savers are, they’re big budgeters, and they like to know, Shawn, where every dollar is going. Shawn: That’s right. It’s just a natural thing in them. And Savers do need to be careful with equating their net worth with their self worth. So, if you’re identifying as the Saver, that’s one of the, I guess the negatives of be careful that you don’t equate those two together. And then the last one, of course, Savers may become overly obsessed with how much money they have, and it’s never quite enough. There’s never quite enough saved. Bob: And that can be a negative thing actually, because it’s always just a little bit more than what they need. Now we have a great scripture, and I think this is the scripture that probably most Savers read a lot of, and I have a feeling of that one. It comes from Proverbs 6:6-8, where we talk about the ant, you sluggard. So go ahead. Shawn: So I’ll go ahead and read that one. All right. “Go to the ant, you sluggard. Consider its ways and be wise, it has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. How long will you lie there, you sluggard? When will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.” I think I’ve said this before, Bob, but Proverbs need to be more direct. Bob: Exactly. Shawn: What is it trying to say? Bob: It might be my fault that your wife might be so much of a Saver, because we read Proverbs every single day. Shawn: Hey, I’d rather her be a Saver than a Spender. Bob: Oh, well, that’s true. That’s true. So, next… Shawn: Which goes right into the next one. Next we have the Spender. Bob: We have the Spender, which is quite the opposite of the Saver. And these are the personality traits of a Spender that I’ve seen. They get great emotional satisfaction from spending and buying on almost anything. And another trait, that’s the second trait I’ve seen, is they actually, Shawn, they get a sense of accomplishment from shopping. Now, how, who would, I don’t know how that one happens, but I’ve seen it. I’ve seen it in people that love to spend, they feel like they’ve accomplished something. Like they’ve worked for something . Shawn: Now it could be kind of true, like if you had something like a water heater go out and you did your research and you found the right one, you bought it. I mean, I could see how that’s a sense of accomplishment. Bob: But they feel productive. Shawn: Yeah, exactly. Bob: When they’re spending. Shawn: Spenders also have a hard time resisting the urge to buy, even if it’s to buy items they may not really need. Bob: So that’s true. And they’re usually aware, Shawn, of their addiction that they have, this spending habit, and they even are concerned about it. I’ve spoken with some of them, they’re like, yeah, they’ll have that credit card debt that can be $10,000 or $15,000. And they don’t like it, but really they need help. They don’t know how to stop that, because they’re getting so much emotional satisfaction from spending. Shawn: So the last two traits, I’ll cover those real quick. Bob: Which is kind of funny, isn’t it? This next one. Shawn: Spenders look for bargains thinking they’re getting a good deal. Bob: Yes. Shawn: And Spenders do use credit cards spontaneously without regard to how much they’re tracking or racking up in charges or what the balance is. Bob: I think they’re very surprised by the balance when it comes in because they got caught up in it. It’s so easy nowadays. The click, click, click on that Amazon, little app. And it’s all all tied together. Shawn: We’ve talked about stuff like this before, but with the buy now, more and more, not just Amazon, but more and more companies are having that, where if you have an account, it’s just tap the button and don’t have to think about it, and just goes to your default payment method and shipping and address all that good stuff. Bob: I hope we haven’t lost you as a Spender. We want you to stay with us. We don’t mean to be, we’re not trying to put a a guilt trip on you. Not at all. Yeah, we don’t, we want to help you. Shawn: Ecclesiastes says there’s a time for everything. Bob: That’s right. Shawn: There’s a time to spend, there’s a time to save. And we’re gonna… Bob: But Proverbs does have anoth a scripture on this. Yeah. Shawn: Proverbs 21:20, “There is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise, but a foolish man spends it up.” Bob: So, I think there’s a lot of great, I call them ministries out there, like Crown Ministries is really good with helping Spenders and not getting that worth in your life from spending. Shawn: So we’re gonna move on now to the next one, the third personality trait, which is the Giver. Bob: That’s my favorite. Shawn: So the Giver, just some traits to think about. Number one, Givers look at money as a tool to help others. Great way to look at it. Bob: They get gratification actually from helping others. That’s a great trait. Shawn: That’s right. Givers are caring individuals who usually put others’ needs above their own. Bob: And they find joy in being a source of encouragement and a shoulder to lean on. Shawn: That’s right. And then the last one, Givers may regularly volunteer their time and energy to help others up. So, we do typically talk about finance, but obviously when you come to the Giver, you have three things that you’re given by the Lord. You have time, talent, and treasure. So, it doesn’t always necessarily relate to finance. So, the Giver may be the person that’s they’re at church all the time to help and volunteer, because that’s one way that they can give back. Bob: My wife is a Giver. and right now she’s in the kitchen today, she’s got like five boxes of cake mix, and she’s making all the cake for a friend’s daughter tomorrow that’s having a baby shower. And Rachael just does that. She’s giving, she’s very giving with her her funds. And I think this is such a Christian, Christ-like trait. And it’s one of the greatest traits of all. Christians should strive to have this part of their financial personality. With giving and prayer, that trait could come about. Because, what it does, what does giving do? Shawn: Giving releases selfishness. It’s very hard to be selfish and giving at the same time, and as you already said, but giving makes us most like Christ. Bob: It does. Shawn: When we’re giving, we are emulating Christlike behavior more than probably any other time. Bob: My favorite scripture from this is 2 Corinthians 9:7 that, “Each of you should give what you’ve decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion. God loves a cheerful Giver.” And giving is a privilege, and like you say, it’s hard to outgive. Shawn: That’s hard to outgive God. Bob: That’s right. So now we come, by the way, we’re gonna come to the last one now. And this one is the Investor personality. Now of these four, which one of these do you think I am? Shawn: The Investor, which is one we’re gonna cover now. Bob: This is exactly right. Shawn: For me. I personally exhibit the Spender and the Giver probably the most. I understand the Investor mentality, I understand the Saving mentality, but without constraints, I’m very much Spender and Giver. You’re definitely the Investor. Bob: I’m gonna share these because I can relate so much. And by the way, there’s some negative sides of this, too, but I hate spending money on anything unless I know I’m gonna get a return back, Shawn. And that can hurt me in the giving area, but I don’t want to, because I don’t want to give to get. Shawn: All right. Bob: Exactly. I want to give because it’s just the right thing to do. But I’m always trying to make money on anything that I spend money on. And that’s the Investor side of me. That’s that Investor personality trait. I look into the future. So, I hate buying depreciating items. I can’t stand stand that. Anything I buy, I wanna say, all right, is it gonna be worth more in the future? I’m constantly aware also of the economy and what the markets are doing, and I have that obsession nearly of always trying to figure out which way the economy’s going. And I have a hard time relaxing because I have this Investor trait so much, I’ve really gotta submit this to the Holy Spirit to pull this down to where it’s not so consuming to me. Now, those that listen to us, they’re probably like, well, okay, I want you investing our, I want you being the one that’s managing our investments for us then. Well, yeah, you do with that one. But this trait can also get outta hand. Shawn: It can, yeah, it can. And of course the, the last trait for the Investor. Investors are driven by careful decision making processes like a written investment strategy and their investments reflect the need to take a certain amount of risk in pursuit of a financial goal. God definitely made you the Investor personality, Bob. But it’s good because you decided, well, I can’t stop focusing on this stuff, so I guess I may as well do it as a career. So, it suits well, but the scripture for this one, we’re not gonna read the whole thing, but it’s Matthew 25:14-30. Bob: About the parable. Shawn: Talking about “The Parable of the Talents”. Bob: Parable of the Talents. Shawn: Don’t be the third servant, be one of the first two where they actually did something with what the master left and made something from it and got a return. Bob: And as we always say, we don’t know how long that period was. It wasn’t about day trading. And we speak against day trading here. We speak about long term. So I believe, and it doesn’t say in the scripture how long, so I believe it that it had to have been at least three to five years. Shawn: Yeah. Well, because they doubled their money, too. Bob: Yeah, exactly. Shawn: So depending on how risky exactly the first two servants were. I mean, there’s a minimum amount of time probably that would’ve elapsed. Bob: So which financial trait are you? Are you the Giver, the Spender, the Saver or the Investor? And I think the best approach would be a balanced approach to look at all of this. There’s no doubt that all of us are gonna have a tendency to go towards one or the other. Be careful of that and try to have a good balanced approach at it. I think the number one approach that is the best one is the what? The Giver. Shawn: The Giver. Yeah, I think so. If you are gonna try to focus on strengthening one in particular, strengthen the Giver. You can’t go wrong with the Giver. You can’t outgive God, and our society could use more people that have the giving financial trait. Bob: I absolutely believe that. Shawn: Well, that does it for the program, unless you’ve got any other closing thoughts on this? Bob: I don’t think so. We’re here to help you with these financial personality traits and if you want to give us a call during business hours or text, you can use the number (830) 609-6986. That’d be up on the screen for you. And/or you can reach us on the web www.christianfinancialadvisors.com. Thank you for listening today. Shawn: Thank You and God bless. [CONCLUSION] That’s all for now. We invite you to listen to all of our past episodes covering many financial topics from a Christian Perspective. To make sure you don’t miss any of Bob’s upcoming episodes you can subscribe to Christian Financial Perspectives on iTunes, Google Play Music, Spotify, or Stitcher. To learn more about integrating your faith with your finances, visit ciswealth.com or call 830-609-6986. [DISCLOSURES] Investment advisory services offered through Christian Investment Advisors Inc dba Christian Financial Advisors®, a registered investment advisor registered with the SEC. Registration as an investment advisor does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Comments from today’s show are for informational purposes only and not to be considered investment advice or recommendations to buy or sell any company that may have been mentioned or discussed. The opinions expressed are solely those of the hosts, Bob Barber and Shawn Peters, and their guests. Bob and Shawn do not provide tax advice and encourage you to seek guidance from a tax professional. While Christian Financial Advisors® believes the information to be accurate and reliable, we do not claim or have responsibility for its completeness, accuracy, or reliability.