Money Mindset. At Budgetbakers, we’ve spent many years thinking about the types of people who use our apps.
Are these people adventurous? Shy? Outspoken? Are they disciplined, and thus attracted to our spending tracker features, or are they trying to impose more discipline, such as with our budgeting features?
Our data suggests that our typical customers tend to be younger, under 45, and that they are mostly men, but with a strong minority of women bakers too. They’re mostly employees, with a significant group of younger students. Many are business owners, and most use more than one financial provider.
They’re all over the world, From India to Mexico, to Australia and Italy, which is not typical of most personal finance apps, which tend to do well in a few countries only. Many are immigrants and “expats.” Perhaps that’s not surprising, considering that we integrate with banks all over the world, in many currencies, making life easier for those who don’t fit the simple prescribed pattern of one person, one account, one location, and one job.
But what all that data doesn’t tell us, but which it’s still critical to understand, is what are their money mindsets?
Four Mindsets, infinite variations
People don’t fall neatly into categories, and we should know that, since we largely work with customers who are already “outliers,” not satisfied with the financial tools that banks and credit card companies deem necessary.
Strictly categorizing people was never was Fjord and Accenture had in mind when they devised the following quadrant of money mindsets:
Source: @fjord
The system is less about telling people who they are, than recognizing what needs are most critical to their decision making. The thinking runs this way:
If we look at people as falling somewhere in a line between “narrowly focused” and “broadly focused,” as well as favoring structure, vs. not favoring it, we find that most people fall somewhere close to the middle of the above graph. We found it so compelling that much of our strategy has hinged, in the past decade, on getting our interactions just right all the types of customers we’re likely to serve.
After all, “married two kids, employed, southwest United States” isn’t a “segment” to us. How can it be? All married or single people, employed or unemployed, southwestern or not, are different in the way they deal with money. Aren’t they? Surely people are more than demographics. People are how they behave. How they understand and react to the world around them. Money is such a big part of that reaction, that their mindsets in dealing with money ought to be powerful indicators for what kinds of features they value the most.
We discovered, unsurprisingly, that our customers were much more likely to fall on one particular side of the spectrum. Which is it, and which do you fall into?
Let’s find out.
Achievers
What Achievers Do
What makes an Achiever money mindset? It’s probably not what you think.
We may imagine a person who saves money relentlessly, seeks the highest paid position achievable, and scrimps and saves, hoping to build their nest egg as large as it can possibly be. A cutthroat striver, or a greed obsessed money machine.
It’s the stuff of Silas Marner and Scrooge McDuck, with his swimming pool of gold coins.
But that isn’t what achievers really do.
Achievers are goal oriented, it’s true. But it’s wrong to assume that the goal is “more more more.” In fact, achievers may have humble ambitions. Their goals can range from “get rich” to “achieve financial independence” (many FIRE devotees are Achievers) to “get a raise this year.” It depends largely on the phase of life they’re in, as well as their skills and life experiences.
The achiever may set more or less stringent goals, but unlike others, they have a decent shot at reaching whatever that goal may be. That’s because achievers have no problem with discipline, and planning. They enjoy knowing that every decision they make is moving them towards their goal. They take pleasure in foregoing things that distract them from it. And they love data too. They like to see the possible future before them, all the better to shape their present to move toward the best outcome.
This isn’t to say that achievers are money obsessed. They’re more money focused. They don’t take their eyes off the future, and they act strategically in the present. No splurges or impulse purchases for them. They’ll need to see evidence that a purchase will get them closer to where they’re going, or else they have no problem holding back.
What Achievers Need
If you’ve got an achiever money mindset -and don’t assume that big dreams alone necessarily make you one (we all dream big when we’re young)- you need structure and stability. Most of all, you need data. Maps. Figures. Graphs. Analysis. Anything that helps you understand the world in numbers and trends, is perfect for you.
That’s not to say that achievers are all data scientists or statisticians, although many such professionals are achievers. Others can thrive on and use data to great purpose. But achievers combine their affinity for numbers with the patience to use the information they glean for their long term planning.
What achievers hate most is distractions and uncertainty. They want to know that their plans are on track, and they won’t tolerate deviations, unless they are clear opportunities for moving forward. Achievers need to make progress: in their careers, in their family lives, and in their own personal habits. They strive to learn new things, and to improve their skills. They are also constantly refining and expanding their goals – after all, what does one do when the plan succeeds? Make a new plan!
Tips for Achievers
With an Achiever money mindset, you probably do one of the following:
- Make lists of your goals: “50 Places to Travel to,” or “10 Skills I will learn in 10 years.”
- Write letters to your future self: Achievers sometimes do this to compare their ambitions with their outcomes. It’s not just to keep themselves motivated, but also to compare where they are, with where they thought they would be before.
- Set personal deadlines: achievers like to give themselves time to achieve their goals, but if they haven’t achieved them in a reasonable time, they will be ready to reassess. If a friend has ever told you: “I’m giving myself until I’m 26 to achieve X or I’ll do Y,” they probably are an achiever, and they probably mean it, too.
- Like to keep score: personal records, statistics, or in games of chance or skill, achievers love to win and they love to know if they lost. That helps them know their abilities and assess their progress. They don’t do it just out of competitiveness. It’s not about others as much as about keeping themselves honest.
If you think you’re an achiever and you don’t do one of these, try it!
Explorers
What Explorers Do
What’s interesting about a quadrant system is that Explorers may seem like the opposites of achievers, but they’re actually similar in many ways. For example, explorers, like achievers, love to consider the big picture.
The difference is that unlike an achiever, someone with an explorer money mindset shies away from structure and rules. They don’t set specific goals for themselves, other than the most vague and flexible like: “never pass up a great opportunity to learn,” or “never stop exploring.” Explorers dream about the future, but more because it’s fun to dream, and fun to imagine many possible paths in life.
While their colleagues are picking a major, Explorers are keeping their options open. This leads them often to seek interdisciplinary approaches to whatever they do, as they have a wider range of personal experiences to draw from. Even when they seem to have things figured out, explorers aren’t afraid to completely start over, and that makes them very interesting, if sometimes frustrating people.
Their lack of structure can often cause them problems too. Explorers may not have the focus they need to get that big raise, or to achieve as much in their academic or personal lives as they could have with more discipline. But an explorer is philosophical about that reality, seeing their discomforts as just another opportunity to grow.
What Explorers Need
Explorers want to focus on the future, but the future to them is an unexplored canvas. Planning is a creative process for them, rather than a set of rigid rules they must follow.
Explorers like to set aside money so that they can go “off budget” and have an adventure, even if that’s just for a single day. They benefit from the ability to apply structure and discipline in a targeted way. Single item budgets, savings, and account sharing with a partner or spouse are some of their most used features with Budgetbakers.
They’re also entrepreneurial people, and will benefit products like Board by Budgetbakers, which helps small businesses to do the same things that Wallet by Budgetbakers does for individuals and families.
Tips for Explorers:
If you’re an explorer, you may find the following useful:
- In order to save for the future, consider some form of a pre-paid investment account, annuities that are harder to cash in ahead of time. That way planning for the future can happen without temptation to spend today.
- Insurance is also an important part of an Explorer strategy: explorers will feel safer and more confident with good life and disability insurance in their back pockets.
Balancers
What Balancers Do
Balancers are the cousins of Achievers in money mindset, in the sense that they favor structure over chaos. The balancer doesn’t like to improvise: they like to plan and be prepared.
The big difference between a Balancer and an Achiever is that while an Achiever is future oriented, always looking to the next horizon, and always planning for ever greater financial achievement and freedom, the Balancer is more “near term.” She or he is interested more in getting the best out of life right now rather than 20 years from now.
That makes the Balancer money mindset relatively good at living in the present, with an eye to their lifestyle as it exists today. They’re less likely to make big sacrifices in order to build a richer life in the future, but that doesn’t matter to the Balancer, because it’s all about living a richer life today. They love to shop for discounts, and they love to save money. That makes them prime candidates for our cousin app Whoolsocks, which helps people balance their daily budgets while saving money and getting the best deals on things they really care about.
What Balancers Need
Balancers need balance!
They’re the types of people to build a comprehensive budget so that they can see how each day will unfold. But they do that not so that they can be disciplined, but rather so that they can wring every drop of enjoyment out of their lives. They’re more connected to home and family, and they value balance in their work and home lives as well, being more likely to work either part time, or under terms that favor more time with family and friends.
Rather than needing to save huge amounts of money, or make the largest returns in the stock market, Balancers want to know that they’re making the right decisions for their present lives. Living in the present can make life a little harder in the future, since Balancers have more of a challenge saving than their Achiever cousins, but they’re also good with their money, and they know how to stretch it to get the most out of life.
Tips for Balancers
If you’re a balancer, consider some of the following tips:
- Make lists. Shopping lists, which are practically poison to Explorers, are a Balancer’s best friend. Balancers also need structure when it comes to planned payments: they don’t like missing anything.
- Build a flexible budget. Budgeting for a Balancer is not about saving, as much as it is about spending more intelligently. Make sure there is plenty of room in your budget for adjustments to circumstances.
Experiencers
What Experiencers Do
Ah the intrepid rascal experiencer. Resistant to almost all forms of structure, and practically unconcerned with the needs of tomorrow, an Experiencer is the polar opposite of an Achiever, unless you count the achievement of spending all night partying, and then making it into work the next day like a real pro.
The Experiencer is living for today. They make money -sometimes a lot of it- but they spend money too. They always have a good story as to where it all went, but they keep on moving because there’s always a new adventure calling. While the idea can seem stressful to a Balancer or an Achiever, this living on the razor’s edge is just where the Experiencer wants to be.
The experiencer is like the Explorer in the sense that they don’t favor structure. But unlike an Explorer, who dreams about the future and looks forward to the rewards of tomorrow, an Experiencer is more interested in the rewards of right now.
What Experiencers Need
Experiencers need to know where their money is, and how much of it they have left. They will benefit from more immediate rewards, such as saving a few bucks on a good deal, or getting a discount on a last minute flight to somewhere fun. They may especially benefit from features such as expense tracking, which can help them catch transactions that they have forgotten about, or wanted to cancel.
The Experiencer is not afraid to shake things up, but they’re also not incapable of planning. Features like one time budgets are key for them. They’re open to planning just as long as the plan is going to be rewarding, such as a surprise party for their best friend, or a romantic vacation with their partner.
Experiencers may have a hard time saving, so services and plans that automatically deduct a portion of their income and move it into a savings or investment account are a good idea, as are employee defined contribution plans, or voluntary retirement accounts with high interest rates, and incentives against early withdrawals. As long as it doesn’t harsh their mellow, experiencers can plan well enough for their own needs.
Tips for Experiencers:
If you’re an Experiencer, consider one or all of the following tricks to help you live a better life:
- Max out your employee retirement account. You know saving is hard, so take some of the pressure off by setting up automatic payments to this account. Annuities and life insurance are also great ideas for you, if you have a family.
- Use one-time budgets to help you plan in the near term. That means planning for things like your shopping, a party, or a fun weekend trip. You may go off budget in the end, but these tricks help you to not miss anything important.
- Get your partner’s help. If you have a partner or a spouse, let them know that this planning thing isn’t so easy for you, and share some of the burden. You’re probably more interested in going out and making money (or spending it), so make sure your partner is a little more disciplined than you are.
Which Mindset is Yours?
So what say you? Are you a super disciplined, super forward looking Achiever, a deft and present Balaner, an adventurous dreamer Explorer, or a live for today, life of the party Experiencer?
As ever, no particular money mindset is written in stone. We can become or adopt a new money mindset over time, as our priorities in life change. And that’s a great thing! After all, being a retired achiever is hard, as is being an Experiencer at the beginning of a career.
We can work toward changing our money mindset, because unlike a fundamental personality type, these mindsets are fluid, and possible to influence by education, experience, and time. So if you’re thinking about changing your lifestyle or relationship to money, fear not! You can do it.
The future (or the present) is yours to live in.
