An owl, a monkey and a dolphin walked into a bar, guess who pays for drinks?
The answer: all three will reach for their wallets, if they had one, but for different reasons.
Money personality test
These “animals” characterise the different “money personalities” identified by former school teacher and financial planner Matt Linnert, now the co-founder of Innergi. The business is built around the view that if you can identify what kind of “animal” you are when it comes to money, then the easier it is for you to identify what kind of savings strategy would work for you.
Innergi’s Money Personality test can show whether you are a dolphin (like Oprah Winfrey), an owl (like Bill Gates), a monkey (like Donald Trump) or a Labrador (like Warren Buffet). All of these individuals are filthy rich: the difference is how they got there.
Like many personality tests, there are no black-and-white answers. Innergi’s test suggests that you may have a primary animal and a support animal instinct. I took the test and found out that I am a dolphin, first, and a Labrador, second.
This combination suggests that “my deepest motivator for change is not typically a tangible and commercial benefit as much as an interest in the wellbeing of the people around you.”
That said, the test said I will look for a “structured and organised way to execute change”.
Put another way, it means I am never, ever, going to be rich in a gung-ho whatever-it-takes way because I will put someone else’s welfare before my own and, second, I don’t have the risk-taking appetite of a ‘monkey’ like Donald Trump, preferring the slowly-but-surely steady wealth of Warren Buffet.
That is all well and good. Self-knowledge can be a powerful thing. But the money personality test can also help you find out how you can “sell” your products and services to a prospect. Someone who is a Labrador would prefer a lengthy report with very modest targets or goals while someone who is a Monkey would rip your powerpoints and get to it.
Robert Skinner, a former financial planner who co-founded Innergi with Matt, said that if you are married or in a relationship, finding out your partner’s money personality can help you understand why you might argue around finances.
Robert said he is an 'owl’ married to a ‘Labrador’, suggesting differing views around money and financial security. But knowing that they differ in that aspect means conversations and compromises are easily achieved.
The personality test costs $49.95 and is available online www.moneypersonality.com.au. It only takes around 4-5 minutes and the results are sent to you via PDF. As a member of the media, Innergi gave me a complimentary log-in to take the quiz.
But $49.95 is a small price to pay for the insight they give in the report. Besides telling you what kind of wealth plan is likely to work for you, they also reveal your "management" style, with all its pros and cons - honest feedback that you might not necessarily get from your friends or colleagues.
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