- All right, guys,
welcome to another episode of "The Rachel Cruze Show."
Today I am so excited to really dive deep
into the seven money tendencies
that I talk about from my brand-new book,
"Know Yourself, Know Your Money."
These are really important, so when you dive into these,
what's gonna happen is you're gonna see number one,
that there is not a good or a bad side of these spectrums.
So, there's not a moral compass,
but I will say the extremes on any of these,
eh, not as good, okay.
So, you're gonna probably be one or the other,
but moderation I have found in like every area of my life
is probably the healthiest, just kinda that moderation,
but you're naturally gonna be one or the other.
And what this is also going to do
is help just give you the vernacular of seeing,
okay, this is why I do things with money.
It's a really, really easy way to say, yes, that is me.
And then you're naturally gonna say,
Oh, and that's my spouse,
or that's my parent, or that's my kid.
'Cause you're gonna start to understand people more.
And that's one reason I wanted to do this.
Is that not only do you learn about yourself,
but also can put yourself in the shoes of others
and have empathy to say,
Oh, that's why you're doing this with money.
Maybe 'cause it's one of these seven tendencies.
So, let's dive in.
All right, the first money tendency
is one we've talked about on the show before,
but it's an important one when it comes to money.
Spender or saver, which one are you?
So, if your first thought when a friend announces
that she's pregnant is that you immediately
wanna start shopping for the perfect baby gift
'cause you're so excited, you might be a spender, yes.
Spenders are really creative when it comes
to how to spend money, because they're really good at it.
So, whenever they have extra money,
it's like a hole is burning in their pocket instantly.
But the good thing about spenders
is that they live life like this,
so they're natural givers as well.
Now, savers, on the other hand,
if you got money for your birthday,
you might just be thinking,
Eh, I'll just put it in the bank.
And that just satisfies you,
that just makes you feel great inside.
You like to keep money away for a rainy day,
putting money aside for the future is not a big deal.
No, not a lot of sacrifice
because they are patient, responsible,
and willing to wait.
So, what are you?
Are you a spender or saver?
I am a spender.
And I'm always gonna use Winston as my other example,
because we're the opposite on all of these things,
and he is the saver.
But knowing which one you are.
Now, for all you spenders out there, me included,
there's some challenges that we have.
You have to prioritize saving.
'Cause here's the deal, if you're an extreme spender,
you're gonna be broke your entire life.
You have to learn to save.
And the same is true with you savers.
The extreme side is that you just hoard everything,
live life with a closed fist,
and you miss out on a lot of fun things.
So you have to learn to spend money
not just on necessities, but learn to spend on some fun.
The next spectrum is nerd versus free spirit.
If you feel like you just can't enjoy a dinner out
at a restaurant until you know that there is money
in the budget that is accounted for
for that dinner, you might be a nerd.
Yes nerds, yep.
Your tax return is well prepared before April 15th,
you love spreadsheets, you love Excel, the budget.
You love it 'cause you just feel
in control of your money.
You're on top of all the details and all the decisions.
Yep, you are nerd.
All right, you know you're a free spirit
if you jump at the chance of going on a girls trip,
even if you're not sure you have the money or not,
you'll figure it out, it'll be great, it'll be great.
Tax day is when again?
(sighing)
Let's just enjoy life.
If that's you, mmm hmm, free spirit.
Yep, you heard the word budget earlier
and you're like breaking out in hives.
Yeah, that's a free spirit.
Again, on the spectrum which one are you?
I'm a free spirit, Winston's a nerd.
(laughing)
Okay, challenges for all you nerds,
you can live and die by the rules of the budget.
And what ends up happening is on the extreme side,
you wear out your friends and your family because of it.
Okay, so let's just take a deep breath.
Everything's gonna be okay, nerds.
Now, free spirits, mmm hmm, yeah.
We really have to be intentional with our money
because if we're not, we're gonna look up
in just a few years and think, where's all my money?
I have no money.
Because you were not intentional with it.
So you do have to be detailed, you do need to do a budget.
You don't have to go all the way nerd status,
but you do have to be in control of your money.
All right, third tendency is experiences versus things.
Now this is the part of your money personality
where you're gonna realize, what do you value in life?
When you spend money,
would you rather spend it on experiences or things?
So if you're experiences, then you probably love traveling,
you love going out to concerts, a day at the spa.
And this is me.
I love a good experience.
I will take my kids to the zoo,
get a zoo membership all the way that includes
the carousel and includes the cool swing
they have at The Nashville Zoo, like all of it,
do it all because I love experiences.
Go out to a good movie.
Yes, and amen.
I mean, all day long, just give me a good time.
The other side of the spectrum is things.
Would you rather spend money on a physical thing?
Maybe like technology, a gadget, clothes, shoes.
This is Winston.
Yep, things.
He's like, if I'm gonna spend money,
I'm gonna spend money on something that I can use
over and over and over again,
and it's gonna better my life.
We laugh all the time 'cause we just compare
our Christmas lists and they're always opposite.
I'm always like, "A small gift card please."
And he's like, "Alexa light bulbs
so I can walk into the living room and say,
'Alexa, turn living room on.'"
I hope Alexa just turned on all of your homes
of all of you listening to this.
But yeah, he's like give me a gadget.
Now, the challenges with experiences versus things
is not really, again, the extremes, but it's realizing,
Okay, I have to value the other person.
So, especially if you're married,
to say, Okay, if we are opposites, I have to value that.
And I wish Winston and I had this because I swear
the first year of our marriage,
he would always just drink water at restaurants.
I was always like, "Get a drink, get a drink."
He's like, "No I don't want to spend eight, $10 on it.
No, I'm fine, I'm fine, Rachel, I'm fine."
I'm like, "Have fun with me, get a drink."
And he's like, "I'm good."
And it would frustrate me but now I realize, no, it's like,
he just doesn't value goin' out to dinner as much.
Like I do.
I mean, I would live or die by a good restaurant dinner.
Mmm hmm, I love it.
Where he'll buy something, and he's like,
"No, Rachel, no, let's spend money here."
And I'm like, "No, let's spend it here."
But now I realize, okay,
I value experiences, he values things.
So it helps so much with not just our gift giving,
'cause it helps with that, but also our communication.
All right, the next tendency is quality versus quantity.
So quality people, you will gladly spend
an extra three dollars on cage-free organic eggs
at the grocery store, because you are quality.
You research, and probably plan your purchases beforehand.
You really want things that are going to last a long time.
Quality spenders don't tend to be impulse shoppers.
Again, they usually take their time.
They know what they're buying 'cause they're spending more
money on the quality of the item, than the quantity of it.
So on the other side is quantity.
So all you quantity people,
you would rather have five pairs of $20 Target shoes,
than one nice name brand.
That's me.
I'm like give me 18 different earrings,
I don't need a nice pair of diamond earrings,
just a bunch of earrings, I'm good, I'm good.
Because I like the variety that it offers.
When I see all these options I'm like, yes, I love it.
Again, I like having 10 different options
versus going back to the same thing over and over again.
So again, the extremes are not good, 'cause the extreme,
the challenge is for the quality people is sometimes,
well, you spend a little more than you need to
just because it's really nice quality,
even if there's a less expensive option.
So you really need to make sure, okay,
quality is good for sure,
but don't be so snobby
that you can't buy something cheaper.
Challenges for quantity.
People like me. Now, our struggle is going to be
that we can justify purchases,
because usually they're small and insignificant.
It's like, oh yeah, it's just $10 on Amazon,
it's not a big deal, it's not a big deal.
Look, look, look.
And then we can start to just hoard and have all this stuff.
That was me, I looked up,
I'm like, I have so much crap everywhere.
Why?
Because I love to spend,
and I'll just spend money, you guys.
So I went through The Minimalists' challenge
a few years ago and it was so great.
Okay, I had them on my show, The Minimalists,
they're amazing.
I'll actually put a link in the show notes
of that episode because it is really important.
Again, quality over quantity,
there's not a right or wrong.
But if you do lean on the quantity side,
and I can say it 'cause this is me, again,
we can tend to just have so much stuff and clutter.
And so just getting it all out and realizing, okay,
I'm not gonna purchase to make me feel good.
(exhaling)
Take a deep breath and declutter,
it's really good for you, I promise.
All right, the next tendency is safety versus status.
So, this is really your motivation
to why you wanna win with money.
Is it out of safety or is it out of status?
And again, status has a bad connotation to it,
I don't mean it to be bad in this.
So, remember neither one's right or wrong,
But safety people, if you lose your job
your first inclination is like, Hey, cut the cable,
cancel all my birthday plans, sell some stuff.
(inhaling and exhaling)
I need safety, safety, safety, safety.
They just value the security that money brings.
And they wanna know that they can withstand anything.
And there's just a level of seeing money in the bank,
it just feels good.
And that's why they wanna win with money.
They will budget, they will save.
They will get out of debt so that they will feel safe.
Now, status people on the other hand, you might be like,
oh yeah, you lose a job,
I'm gonna go buy a new outfit 'cause I'm gonna look great
on all my job interviews.
(laughing)
Status people, they just want to win with money
so that they can do things, okay, so this is me.
I will budget all day long, I will save all day long.
If I know, yeah, I'm budgeting or I'm saving
for a great vacation, or to buy a new car,
or to do something fun.
I wanna do this stuff in order to do other things,
does that make sense?
So again, status is not bad, but it's saying, Yeah,
I would rather do, make sacrifices with money
so that I can go do other fun things.
Now there are some challenges
for the safety side of the spectrum.
So if you lean safety,
you have to be careful to realize
that money is not going to bring ultimate safety.
It's not.
Scripture's very clear about this.
You just don't wanna build bigger barns constantly.
They talk about that in Luke.
And it's so true when Jesus says that,
'cause it's like, yeah, you're not winning with money
just to store, store, store, store, store.
So you have to have faith in God's goodness and who he is.
Money cannot be your ultimate safety net.
Now status people we have some challenges too,
because we can tend to be like, Oh yeah,
I like to have all the nice stuff,
I like to do all the great things.
And we can get caught up in appearances,
and in the bad side of that status.
So I always ask myself the question
before I purchase something:
If no one saw this, do I still want it?
I ask myself that a lot.
And sadly, it's usually 50/50.
I'm like, those are such a cute pair of shoes,
oh my gosh, I love 'em.
But if no one saw them, would I still want them?
Half the time it is still, yes.
Rachel loves a good pair of shoes, mmm hmm.
But sometimes I'm like, No, I mean, if no one saw 'em
I don't think I'd wear 'em.
Then I don't buy it.
It's actually, I've learned to save a lot of money.
So again, safety versus status.
All right, the next tendency is scarcity versus abundance.
So, you know you lean scarcity on that side
if you are super concerned
about how the bill is going to be split
if you're out to dinner with friends.
It's like, okay who got what?
You ate a fourth of the appetizer,
okay just take a fourth, that's good,
that's good, that's good.
You kinda operate under this assumption that resources
are finite and you really tend to hold onto possessions
pretty tightly because you just might need it someday.
And the fear of losing things
because you might not replace them is real.
People feel that, you lean scarcity.
The abundance side for people is if you're like,
"Oh no, I'll just pick up the bill for dinner,
no big deal guys it's all gonna be okay.
You just get me next time, okay.
It'll be fine, it'll be fine."
You just always believe that
there's gonna be more than enough.
You'll take risks,
you don't really make decisions out of fear very often.
And abundance people tend to be natural givers
because they think, well, there's just more money to get.
Now, some challenges for the scarcity side of a spectrum
is that sometimes you'll miss out
on some really great financial opportunities
because you just can't move forward,
because you get paralyzed by fear.
And you're like, but as this money leaves
what's gonna happen?
Again, going back to that safety side,
that God is always going to provide.
So, remember that.
Now, challenges on the abundance side of the spectrum
is you see that the glass is half full all the time.
Even sometimes when it's not.
And sometimes you need to be a little cautious.
You could make some really unwise decisions
by just thinking, Oh, it'll all work out, it'll be fine.
So the extreme side of the abundance, we don't want.
All right, the last tendency is when it comes to our giving.
Are you spontaneous, or are you planned?
You are a spontaneous giver
if every time a doorbell rings
and you go to the front door and someone's there
asking for money, you're like, yes, take it, take it,
take it, take it, absolutely.
You're really quick to give.
I mean, if you pass someone on the sidewalk
asking for money,
you're more likely to kinda jump in and help them out.
You just love the freedom to respond with your heart
when things happen,
you just give more on the spontaneous side of the spectrum.
Then on the other side are the planned givers.
Now you are a planned giver if you know line by line
your church's budgets, if you give to your church.
You know your charities that you're giving to,
you know exactly what they're spending money on.
You are very planned, you are very intentional,
because you take it very seriously.
Planned givers don't usually give
to every great cause they hear about
because they've already decided and are committed
to the ones that they've already researched.
Now, there are some challenges, again, for both sides.
Even though giving is great, but spontaneous givers,
you have to realize that every time
you just drop $5 in a bucket, every place you see,
you may make a bigger impact if you said,
"You know what?
Instead of just spreading my money out,
maybe I pick three or four places to give."
And you can have a much bigger impact.
So the emotional side of that giving is not wrong.
But if you channel it,
you can be a little bit more strategic.
Now, planned givers,
sometimes you just don't leave room for the Spirit, okay?
The Spirit calls, give, give,
you can actually find a lot of joy
in sometimes the spontaneous side of life.
Something is presented to you and you just give.
So Winston and I, it's funny,
I lean spontaneous, he leans more planned.
And so now in our giving budget
we literally have the places we give,
and then we have a little bit of a line item
for spontaneous giving.
So that if something does come up, we're like,
We can give to that, okay, that's good.
So it kind of is like the best of both worlds, which I love.
Now again, these spectrums, neither one is right or wrong,
extremes could be unhealthy, but pointing it out and seeing,
okay, this is who I am, this is why I spend or save,
or give the way I give, save or spend.
So important y'all, it is.
It's so important to dive into the heart
of who you are and for those around you.
So to get more of the info on these seven tendencies
and so much more, it's in my new book which is out now.
I can't believe it, but you can go buy it.
Yeah, "Know Yourself, Know Your Money."
And again, I hope you learn more about yourself
so that you can take control of your money
and create a life you love.
(upbeat music)