What’s your financial personality? Take the quiz from Aviva

 

You know I love a quiz.

Ideally it’s maths based, with a certificate at the end, and the heartfelt praise of a teacher, but anything will do. The quiz I took I about my potential adult ADHD was a bit scary, but we’ll brush over that one.

A few months ago I did a big overhaul of my pensions. I had accumulated seven separate pots from various jobs, and wanted to get them all in one place so that I could keep an eye on them properly without needing an entire filing cabinet. As part of the process of choosing how to invest, my financial advisor made me do a quiz about my attitude to risk. At the end she was very impressed. Apparently I had one of the highest scores she had ever seen. I’m not sure this is necessarily a good thing when it comes to planning for your retirement, but it’s fun. Fingers crossed for me for the Japanese small company market.

I was very excited then to have a go on the Aviva financial personality tool. I think a lot of us go through life without paying a lot of attention to exactly how we manage our money, other than whether or not we pay the bills on time, but understanding your attitude to money, and your strengths and weaknesses, is actually really important.

So, to the quiz.

The first slightly annoying thing was that I had to put myself in the 35-44 age bracket. This is not a good feeling. I can’t blame the tool for that though.

Some questions, like asking me whether or not I agree with the statement ‘I try to appear in control of my life at all times’ had me wondering about exactly what sort of quiz I had signed up for – was it going to diagnose some sort of personality disorder as well as an aversion to saving? There are a lot of questions, but it doesn’t take long. I think with this sort of quiz it’s best not to over think things, but just to go with your gut instinct.

Five minutes later and my results were revealed:

I was pretty pleased with this.

I do feel like I am fairly intuitive when it comes to money. Being self-employed can be a real challenge financially, especially when it comes to cash flow, but I feel like I do a pretty good job of it. I don’t set myself a formal budget, and I don’t deprive myself of little treats, but I always know my rough bank balance and spend within my means.

Since my pension overhaul, I now have £300 a month going straight into this. I find saving easiest when it’s something automatic like this. I would never be able to save if it was a case of saving whatever was left over every month – it has to feel like paying a bill, so I don’t think about it as optional. I also like having an online savings account alongside my bank account, as it makes it very easy to transfer money. Every time I’m paid for a significant bit of work I just dish it all out – a bit to pay off any credit cards, a bit in the tax account, and a bit into savings. Easy peasy.

The tool didn’t direct me to any products once I’d finished the quiz, which was quite refreshing – it was nice to just be given that bit of insight, without the hard sell. Anything that makes us think a little more about saving has to be a good thing in my mind.

I’ll have another savings related post coming soon, so look out for that if you’re interested in finding out more about how you could save more effectively. And in the meantime…

Take the quiz now and let me know what your financial personality is.

Sponsored post. Image credits – Nattapol Sritongco/shutterstock