Money Archetypes

I have been thinking about money a lot lately. No, not in the way you imagine. More about how each individual has their own personal relationship with money and what it means to them. Although I have lamented in the past that money is just an intermediary, It still has a profound affect on our personality and character. Not withstanding that personal finance is indeed personal, I think that there are a few basic money archetypes that describe how we interact with this complicated subject. In the realm of financial independence, there are two specific patterns that seem to come up repeatedly in my observations.

My research has not been as wide and vast as you might hope. I have not scoured the literature nor probed the most brilliant minds locked away in their ivory towers. Nope, I have done something a little more basic.

I have observed my children.

The Money Maker

My son is fast and loose with coin. It’s as if those few quarters in his pocket burn a hole in the fabric. There is always something new to buy. Some new piece of electronica that should adorn his bookcase. I have no doubt that at fourteen years old, he spends more money on himself than I do.

So you think this would alarm me. You think this would make me fear for his future. But I don’t. Because there is one thing that he does that he is even more skilled at than spending.

My son knows how to make money.

It started before he even had cash in hand. In elementary school he would leave for school with a handful of yucky Halloween candy, and return home with old cell phones, watches, and video games. Often they were broken until he fixed them.

He told us he loved to trade candy because his poor trading mates would eat the candy, and then later realize they had made a poor decision. But by that time, they had nothing left to trade back.

He is now a master of eBay. He buys broken electronics, fixes them, and then sells for double the price. He is known around the neighborhood for his technical skills, and often gets paid a good commission for his repairs.

He always has cash on hand because he lives in a world of abundance. Abundance is one of the principal money archetypes.

Penny Pincher

My daughter, on the other hand, holds tightly to one of the other major money archetypes.

Scarcity.

While unable to make as much money as my son, her cash goes a lot farther. She is extremely careful with what she spends her money on. She values her things deeply and puts a great deal of thought into what she wants to buy.

She likes to make every penny count. She does not see the world as expansively as my son does. Nor feels the same elation at the prospect of turning a profit. Money is just not that important to her.

She does value things, but unlike my son, vibes more on relationships and feelings. She is the first one to jump at a new experience and plunge head first, while my son is reticent.

Which is Better?

Although we like to place a positive connotation on abundance and a negative on scarcity, I think when it comes to money archetypes, the comparison is a wash. My son will look at the world in big, bold swaths and probably make and lose quite a bit of money over a lifetime. Yet as parents, we have drilled in enough knowledge about saving, compounding, and investing that his bank accounts will always be adequate.

My daughter will likely be more frugal, take less economic risks, and concentrate on value. She may never make as much money as my son, but will probably never spend as much either. It is even possible that she will lean towards minimalism or at least valuism.

But she will also live a life full of purpose, experiences, and relationships. And in this she will be wealthy beyond her dreams.

Which Archetype Are You?

Strangely enough, I think that I am probably more like my son than my daughter, although I lean both ways. My wife is more like my daughter than my son, but she also leans both ways.

Maybe these money archetypes are like our genes, and then our environment modifies our true tendencies.

What do you think?

Which archetype are you?