What's your Money Personality?

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By Brent Kessel, MSN Money

In my experience, the people who are happiest with their relationship to money are fairly balanced among most, if not all, of these archetypes. But the reality is that most people have one or two dominant archetypes that keep them stuck with unsatisfying financial habits.

One of the areas where our dominant archetypes can create the most damage is investing. For example, the Guardian prefers ultraconservative assets such as certificates of deposit and bonds, and can tend to trade too much to avoid losses. My advice for such a personality: Create a long-term investment plan that requires little meddling, and stick to it.

Or take the Star. When it comes to investing, he or she chooses assets because they're in vogue, such as tech stocks in the late 1990s, real estate and hedge funds more recently or "green" companies for the future. For such a personality, I advise investing 90% of his or her net worth in a "boring," disciplined portfolio and only 10% in a "cocktail party" account, so he or she still has investments to brag about.

Our dominant archetypes can change over time, especially with guidance.

"For many years, my focus was on building my business and savings, to the point of not really taking the time to fully enjoy or share the fruits of my success," says Abacus client John Baudhuin, a co-founder of fitness company Spinning, which developed the group-cycling program used by 35,000 gyms worldwide.

"But in recent years, I've shifted some of the emphasis from the Saver and Empire Builder to the Pleasure Seeker and Caretaker, and my life is more balanced as a result. For example, I started a family and splurged on a high-performance car I never would have considered buying even a few years ago."

Baudhuin's story shows how emphasizing the money types we've been neglecting can lead to greater financial fulfillment.

Read the rest of the article to find your money personality.