Discover what you and your partner’s financial personalities are to help increase your potential for financial success.

Money talks. It can also argue and shout. 75% of couples who divorce before the age of 30 cite money problems as the main cause. Don’t become a statistic. Take the test below to help avoid money fights.

The Dimensions of Your Financial Personalities

Everyone’s financial personality has three dimensions. Most people’s financial personalities fall somewhere in the middle between the extremes of each dimension, but they probably lean more in one direction than the other.

1. Lifestyle: Spartan versus Monarch. This dimension reflects your ideas about lifestyle. If you picture yourself living in luxury and feel uncomfortable in humble surroundings, you’re a Monarch. If you shun elegance and luxury and think that simplicity is a virtue, you’re a Spartan.

This personality dimension is the valve that controls your spending. The lifestyle that you experienced growing up sets up your basic point of comparison, and strongly influences whether you are a Spartan or Monarch. Just like a prince or princess, if you grew up in lavish surroundings, you may feel you are entitled to this lifestyle, regardless of your actual financial capabilities. If you grew up in humble surroundings, you’re better able to tolerate financial scarcity, but you may also feel that you don’t deserve anything better than scarcity.

2. Risk Tolerance: Gambler versus Banker. This characteristic reflects your tolerance for risk. Does the thought of investing in the stock market make you feel slightly queasy? Does a steady paycheck sound better than working for commissions, even if that means earning less money in the long run? Then you’re a Banker. Gamblers don’t mind taking risks. Almost all self-made billionaires have Gambler personalities; but, then again, a lot of Gamblers end up filing for bankruptcy.

Whether you’re a Gambler or a Banker can change depending on your circumstances. This dimension has a lot to do with your feelings about security. Your feelings of security or insecurity may be completely realistic, based on how things are actually going in your life, or they may be completely unrealistic, based on ghosts from your past.

If things are going well, for example, you’re in a secure relationship, have an evolving career, and economic times are good, you have more room to gamble. When times are tough, you tend to pull in the reins. So you might basically be a Gambler, but one who can pull back and become a Banker when you’re feeling less secure.

It has been found that men tend to take bigger financial risks than women (Powell and Ansic 1997). But it’s also been found that men don’t necessarily make financial decisions that end up being any better or worse than women make (Eisenberg 1997).

3. Financial Dependency: Pioneer versus Homesteader. Who’s responsible for bringing home the bacon? If you feel that you’re the captain of your own ship, and you need to always pull your own financial weight, then you’re a Pioneer. If you expect or will accept financial help and support from your partner or from other people, then you’re a Homesteader.

This dimension is related to feelings about financial dependency. Traditionally, women have been the Homesteaders and men the Pioneers. Even though people are freer today than ever before to try out new roles, men are still more likely to feel responsible for their family’s financial support, and women are still more likely to feel responsible for taking care of all the activities that take place in the home. There’s still a lot of social pressure for both sexes to keep their traditional roles.

In a study by Riggs (1997) college students of both genders tended to view a woman as doing something positive when she risked financial security to stay home with her child, but they had negative feelings about men who did the same thing.

A secure, happy relationship can provide more leeway with these roles. For instance, a Pioneer might think that the Homesteader she or he lives with has an easier life and is taking advantage. Or a Homesteader might think that his/her Pioneer partner has all the control. But if, as a couple, you trust each other, you will be less worried about your partner taking advantage of you, and you are both freer to take on the roles and responsibilities that work best for each of you.

Take the Financial Personality Quiz.

Now, summarize your own and your partner’s financial personalities by circling the appropriate labels below: