Who: Robin McKinney, MSW, is the director and co-founder of the Maryland CASH Campaign. A veteran of the asset building field, McKinney was previously the program assistant for Family Economic Success at the Annie E. Casey Foundation. She was also the assistant director at the East Harbor Community Development Corporation’s MoneyWise Café, a one-stop shop for free and low-cost tax preparation, financial coaching and education and access to affordable financial services. She served on the Steering Committee for the National Community Tax Coalition (NCTC) and the board of the Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition, Civil Justice Network and the Rural Maryland Foundation.

What: The Maryland CASH (Creating Assets, Savings, and Hope) Campaign is a statewide network of organizations that promote financial stability for working families. The organization coordinates financial education practitioners, while focusing on three main initiatives: capacity building and training, financial education and research and advocacy. The organization uses Money Habitudes as a standard training component for its own financial educators and coaches, as well as in financial education training it does for other organizations.

How:

• McKinney builds Money Habitudes into all of her organization’s practitioner trainings. Facilitators are expected to understand not just the numbers and budgeting side of financial education and coaching, but also the behavioral aspects of how and why people spend and save.
• As a part of Maryland CASH’s standard financial education training, McKinney focuses on the emotional and behavioral sides of money; each trainee discovers his or her own Money Habitudes money personality.
• Following the Money Habitudes financial self-assessment, she has practitioners do a version of the budgeting bean game, a tool that  helps participants understand how personality and money values affect actual financial decision-making. “Throughout the day of training for facilitators, at some point, 99 percent of people in the audience have a realization that their own money habits, attitudes and values have been getting in the way of what they’re trying to do with their clients,” says McKinney.
• Practitioners (social workers, financial educators, etc.) not only learn how to work with the cards to better understand how they relate to money, but also so they can do the activity with end-user clients. This may be as a class activity or in one-on-one coaching. The cards are included as a tool for Maryland CASH partners and their staff.
• The cards are also used as a mid-conversation energizer in financial coaching and counseling. “If you’re stuck or someone is just shutting down, pick out a card and use it as a discussion point that’s outside the current situation,” says McKinney.
• In addition to training financial educators and coaches, Maryland CASH conducts standalone workshops on topics such as savings and spending plans. In these financial workshops, the organization uses the cards in a classroom setting with end-users.

Why:

Making it easy to talk about money

• The playing cards and format are non-threatening. “What’s really nice about having people answer those statements is you’re basically asking them their opinion on something that’s separate from themselves. You’re getting a lot of information about how they personally think and feel about things without asking them personal financial questions. You’re not asking them, ‘How much money do you have in credit card debt?’ or ‘Why do you think you got in so much credit card debt?’ With the Money Habitudes statements, you get towards the same answer, but people don’t have to feel interrogated.”

Broadly applicable and easy to use

• “It’s a tool that works equally well with practitioners and clients and I like to train practitioners with tools that they can turn around and use with their clients.”
• They’re flexible and can be used effectively in almost any situation. “I can pick up that deck of cards and get into a good money conversation with anyone,” says McKinney. “I carry them with me. I seriously have a deck in my purse at all times because I use them so frequently. It’s a go-to, no matter what I do.”
• They’re easy to use. “You could literally pick this deck of cards up with no training, with no investment in staff time except for the deck of cards and figure out how to do it – and do something meaningful with it. People are always looking for tools that are plug-and-play. And the cards are just ‘play’ – there’s nothing to ‘plug.’ It’s that fast. To have something that’s a quick pick-up tool, but is this effective is very rare. It’s a minimum investment for a maximum return.”

Integrating financial behaviors and emotions into financial education

• “The emotional and behavioral side of money is new. And it’s the harder part and it’s really connected to self-efficacy. A lot of our human service workforce, because they’ve never really been trained in how to talk to people about their finances, instead perform tasks with clients such as doing a budget. Talking about your underlying beliefs about money is a hard conversation,” says McKinney.
• The exercise helps financial educators and coaches better understand themselves, better relate to their clients and better understand the behaviors behind saving and spending habits. “I always felt a missing component of financial education was being able to discuss the emotional side of money and what’s underneath someone’s habits and behaviors. And this is the first thing I start with. I feel like everyone needs to get rooted in this to even understand how we frame how to work with people around their money.”
• “Basic financial management is about math. It’s about the black and white numbers of what’s coming in and what’s going out. But when it comes to financial decision-making, setting goals and being able to achieve your goals and do what you want to do, that’s where emotion comes in. And as we all know, emotions have a huge role to play in financial decision-making. There are lots of tools and calculators and spreadsheets to help us manage the black and white, math part of finances. But we really don’t have a way to even start the conversation about how to deal with the emotional side and the Money Habitudes activity is one way to start that conversation,” says McKinney.
• “I don’t think people are intentionally not including this behavioral component; I just think people don’t understand until they see it how important and vital it is to what they’re doing. Instead, people are teaching stock, off-the-shelf financial education and then wondering why they’re not getting the outcomes they want to see.”

Making financial conversations more meaningful

• “I use the Money Habitudes cards in all of our practitioner trainings which are about preparing the human workforce to deliver financial stability services. It’s part of our standard training. For us, it’s a basic tenet that anyone that is doing this work and working with us should know and understand and be articulate about.”
• “The cards get you that Aha! moment. You see the wheels turning and people really thinking, ‘Oh, I hadn’t thought about that!’ It’s something new. You can teach things like credit scores and it’ll be new information and people will say, ‘Oh, I didn’t know they collect that,’ but it’s different with the cards where someone says, ‘I didn’t realize that about myself!’”

The Issue:

Who: Robert Cain is an investment advisor in Scottsdale, AZ with Arque Capital Ltd.

What: Cain has used Money Habitudes cards in financial planning seminars and individual client meetings.

How:

• Cain runs a two-part financial planning seminar for prospective clients. Each of the financial planning classes is two hours. Class size is about a dozen. The fee for the class only covers per-person expenses.
• Cain begins his financial planning classes by putting retirement in a life planning context. “When we think about retirement planning, we often think about saving money but the non-financial aspects are often overlooked,” he says.
• In lieu of examining finances right off, participants evaluate their satisfaction and effort across 12 lifestyle dimensions. These include community/charity, family/relatives, spirituality/religion, spouse/romance, etc. Participants look for a gap that shows someone wants to do something but isn’t doing it.
• Following the lifestyle evaluation exercise, Cain used to devote time to telling attendees about various opportunities available to them (such as which community organizations to seek out for volunteering, etc.). However, he replaced this section of his financial planning seminar – about 20 PowerPoint slides – with the Money Habitudes conversation starter. “I said in lieu of that, we’re going to play a card game,” he says. He still made the other information available to attendees to look at on their own.
• Attendees had time to sort their own deck of the financial conversation starter cards and then go through the money personality self-assessment process. Cain allowed about 30 minutes for the ice breaker activity. “I explained to them that this kind of thing can help them understand why they behave the way they do with their money and it also helps me understand where their heads are when they meet with me. I get an idea of what kind of thinker they are. I thought it was definitely meaningful for them,” he says. He watched the instructional DVD to prepare for this portion of his financial planning classes.
• Where attendees had no cards, Cain had them pay attention to the advantages of adding in benefits of that money personality category. As a financial planner, Cain knows part of his job is helping clients feel comfortable with their finances. This might mean showing them that they can take that trip or buy that new car.
• Attendees got to take home their own deck of cards after the financial workshop to revisit the money personality profile. “They kept the cards so they could use them later on their own and maybe pull them out and do them with their kids or grandkids.”

Why:

• Using Money Habitudes cards provides an energizing, interactive break from lecture-and-PowerPoint presentations typical of financial planning classes.
• The financial conversation starter makes it easier and more natural to get to know a client. “It’s a good way to open up a conversation as opposed to just doing the interrogation, the fact-finding. It opens up a different category of thinking versus just ‘stocks and bonds,’” says Cain.
• As a money ice breaker, the cards are non-threatening. “It’s like you’re not making a judgment. You’re letting the cards speak for them.”

Why? Because people who need housing assistance typically need more than just housing assistance. With an asset building approach, transitional housing programs also teach clients how to make smarter financial choices.

The goal isn’t just to provide housing but to help people improve their lives. That means improving their finances and helping them establish healthy financial habits and attitudes.

“Typical” financial literacy classes in supportive housing and transitional housing programs

Typical financial literacy classes or curricula deal with basic financial skills and issues. The following topics are common in financial education and asset building classes:

• Creating a budget or spending plan; spending habits
• Getting out of debt
• Identity theft
• Insurance
• Fixing and improving credit and understanding credit scores
• Getting banked and savings accounts

In addition, transitional housing and supportive housing classes may add:

• The homebuying process
• Benefits eligibility – Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and Supplemental Security Income (SSI), WIC, CHIP, etc.
• Understanding mortgages and loans
• The road to asset building (including IDA and matched saving programs)

Why include financial behaviors and values in financial literacy classes?

Because so much of personal finance is about behavior and habits, many personal finance classes now include a class on financial behaviors. These classes help participants better understand why they do what they do with money. These values classes also tend to be more fun and engaging. They don’t go over numbers and budgets – which can be scary and boring – and make finances personally relevant.

Money Habitudes financial literacy classes for supportive housing and transitional housing programs

When Money Habitudes cards are used in transitional housing and supportive housing classes, it is typically:

• As a financial ice breaker or conversation starter in an existing class.
• As the first class in a series of financial literacy classes.

The Money Habitudes cards are used because they are:

• Fun; participants often laugh and smile; rare for a financial literacy class!
• Tactile and hands on; better experience than PowerPoint, lectures and worksheets.
• Easy to learn and easy to teach. No complicated training program or certification.
• A simple but effective tool to explore money personality, financial behavior, financial attitudes and values.
• Used across the education spectrum because they are worded simply.
• A great money conversation starter.
• Durable; can be reused over and over in programs.
• Flexible; can be used in a variety of classes – as well as one-on-one financial counseling and couples counseling

Read how Virginia Supportive Housing uses Money Habitudes in financial literacy classes for supportive housing and transitional housing programs …

FINRA grants for financial literacy classes at libraries

FINRA is the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

FINRA’s Investor Education Foundation and the American Library Association (ALA) are providing $1.2 million in grants to 16 recipients this year. The FINRA grants are part of the Smart investing@your library^® initiative.

Smart investing@your library^® is administered jointly by the Reference and User Services Association—a division of ALA—and the FINRA Investor Education Foundation. The program funds library efforts to provide patrons with effective, unbiased educational resources about personal finance and investing. Now in its fifth year, the program has awarded a total of nearly $6 million to public libraries and library networks nationwide. Many grants fund financial literacy classes.

The grants target a diverse group of library patrons:

• Youth
• Seniors
• English-language learners
• college students
• rural residents
• low-income families

Money Habitudes in FINRA’s Smart investing@your library financial literacy classes and counseling

Participating libraries will use a variety of technologies and outreach strategies to connect library users to the best financial education and information available. These strategies include:

• online learning
• seminars, financial literacy classes
• one-on-one clinics
• storytelling
• performances
• staff training

While an online Money Habitudes application is forthcoming, today the versatile financial money personality assessment and money management game is used in financial literacy classes and one-on-one clinics. In the sense that it is a money conversation starter, it gets people to share their money stories with others in a fun, engaging, non-threatening way.

Money Habitudes cards are often used in staff training to help financial educators, financial planners, VITA income tax volunteers, money coaches and the like. The training cards help financial professionals better understand their own money mindset. This allows them to see how and why they give they advice they do and relate to clients in the way they do; often they realize they’ve come across as judgmental and biased when they haven’t meant to. Using the cards also helps financial advisors more clearly understand their clients’ spending habits, financial attitudes and behaviors.

Jackson District Library: FINRA Smart investing@your library grant award

Jackson District Library is partnering with United Way and other community agencies to deliver financial education resources in the county and improve communications about finances among low- and moderate-income households. Participants will develop a financial plan, increase their knowledge about money management and investing, and gain better access to learning resources with support from a personal finance help desk service and financial literacy classes based on the FDIC Money Smart curriculum. Grant amount: $99,187

The actual Money Habitudes financial literacy class posting at the library looks like this:

Money & Marriage Luncheon: Money Habitudes

Money Habitudes

Hungry for advice to help keep your financial health in balance?  Pack your lunch, or order it from us.  Whether you attend by yourself or as a couple, you will learn ideas to help your relationship  — and we will provide dessert.

Location: United Way conference room A/B

For more information and to register, visit http://marriagemattersjackson.com/events?eventId=473906&EventViewMode=EventDetails or call 517-796-5116.  First 20 people registered will be entered into a drawing for a free lunch!

Read this blog post for some commonalities of financial literacy classes that use Money Habitudes cards. And, for other ideas about how to use the financial cards in financial education and financial literacy classes, check out the Money Habitudes case studies.

Other free community financial classes offered by the Jackson District Library include:

• Money Smart Workshop: Pay Yourself First

Pay Yourself First

Why you should save, save, save!

Join us for workshops that will help to instill a new attitude of honesty and financial communication.  Refreshments and babysitting available. Registration is required and enters you into a grand prize drawing.  Please contact us at 517-788-4087, ext. 1339.

• Identity Theft Workshop with John Miller from Harvard Risk Management Corp.

• Money Smart Workshop: Bank On It

Bank On It

An introduction to bank services.

Join us for workshops that will help to instill a new attitude of honesty and financial communication.  Refreshments and babysitting available. Registration is required and enters you into a grand prize drawing.

What is the real issue when…

• Responsible individuals go into debt?
• A friend or relative is always borrowing money?
• Someone never lets others pay the bill?
• Couples argue about finances?
• Individuals know there’s a need to save or invest for the future, but don’t do it?
• People keep debts, gifts, spending, investments a secret from their spouse.
• Someone ignores their financial reality to live a more expensive lifestyle?

Is Money the Problem?

No!

It’s Money Habitudes—habits, and attitudes related to money.

Where:

Bloomington United Methodist

Basement

225 Congress St., Bloomington, WI
When:

November 2, 2011

6:30—8:30 p.m.

Money Habitudes!

Join us for a fun interactive way to talk about the difficult topic of money in a fun, nonjudgmental and constructive way. Discover
how our habits and attitudes about money support or sabotage our lives, relationships, careers and financial goals.

Presenter
Bev Doll
Family Living Agent
UW Extension Grant County

Identifying Your Client’s Relationship with Money

Title: Money Habitudes: Identifying Your Client’s Relationship with Money

When: Oct. 14. 2011 09:00 AM – 04:00 PM

Where: Northeastern University – Curry Room 333 – Boston

Category: Professional Development Seminar

Description

Talking about money in a marriage education program

This class shares some similarities with other marriage and relationship classes that use Money Habitudes cards. For therapists and marriage and relationship educators, some of the Money Habitudes case studies will prove helpful when developing programs around money and relationships.

Money Habitudes

This evening program is designed to assist couples to explore their habits and attitudes money management, and the values that underpin this.

This is a one night program in addition to a Marriage Education Program. It is for all couples, those preparing for marriage or those already married.

With the use of Money Habitudes Cards couples will be able to:

• develop an awareness about their habits and attitudes about money
• highlight their strengths and challenges regarding managing money in the relationship
• discuss money in a supportive and fun setting
• explore the possibility of changing a ‘habitude’.

A spouse is more than a friend and more than a roommate. A spouse is, among other things, a financial partner.

Attitudes can best be described as automatic thoughts and feelings that we have as soon as we see or hear something. Attitudes are usually connected to our values system.

Habits are automatic behaviours that we have in response to an attitude.

So the result is – “Habitudes” – the automatic feeling and response to money.

Couples individually play the card game and have a series of questions to discuss. There are several opportunities to stop and write questions to take home for further discussion.

At times it may be challenging. Couples often share their similarities and differences which is a lot of fun!

Conflicts about money are inevitable; what matters is how the two of you handle those conflicts.

Here are a couple of questions for you to discuss with your partner:

• What do the words ‘rich’ and ‘poor’ mean to you?
• What messages about money did you receive growing up?

Program Cost
$40 per session.
Free to participants who have completed a Partnerships and/or FOCCUS program

Program dates 2012

For financial educators, there are a number of case studies that highlight how Money Habitudes is being used in a variety of ways; this one shows how one finance professor uses his Money Habitudes cards with students, university employees in benefit classes and with financial planning clients. Also, this post points out come of the commonalities found in financial education workshops.

Money Habitudes in employee benefits sessions:

• The money personality assessment is a fun, hands-on activity.
• It makes talking about money fun.
• It helps people better understand their wants and needs and their spending habits in the context of their employee benefits and retirement options.
• It breaks up often dry, boring PowerPoint presentations that are heavy on numbers.
• It gets couples to relate better to each other when discussing finances.

Faculty, staff urged to pre-register for EmployeeFest before March 31 for free gift

Discover Your Money Habitudes: Habits and Attitudes Affect How You Use Money

April 25, 2012 (1:00 PM )

First State Bank of Bloomington
204 North Prospect Rd
Bloomington, IL 61701 (McLean County)

This session is part of McLean County Money Smart Week and is taught by Kathy Sweedler, U of I Extension Consumer Educator.

No registration is necessary. This workshop is free to the public.

Money Habitudes Financial Literacy Curriculum: Overview

Our financial literacy curriculum for teens is Money Habitudes: How to be Rich in Life and Love. It is a collaboration with The Dibble Institute. The financial curriculum introduces teens to the human, emotional side of money. With a behavioral economics approach, the teen financial literacy curriculum is an important precursor to financial literacy courses.

The engaging financial literacy lesson plans help teens:

• identify their personal finance patterns.
• understand how these financial patterns affect their goals and relationships.
• see how to use this financial self-assessment to be more successful.

The high school personal finance curriculum includes 5 one-hour lessons. It can be used on its own or as supplemental lesson plans alongside other personal finance and economics curricula. This includes FDIC’s Money Smart and other financial capability curricula developed by NEFE, FEFE, etc. How To Be Rich in Life & Love integrates with state and national standards for personal finance education.

Money Habitudes Financial Literacy Curriculum: Contents

A key focus of the financial literacy lesson plans is understanding the different ways people behave around money. Guided discussions reveal how different financial behaviors reflect the influence of family, media, culture, and life events. The non-judgmental personal finance curriculum helps teens manage their financial concerns in productive ways. Finally, teens learn to use SMART Goals for goal setting.

The ready-to-teach course includes:

• Teacher Guide with 5 lesson plans
• PowerPoints for each lesson (CD)
• Student workbook / journal – 72 pgs, illustrated
• Decks of Money Habitudes for Teens
• 2 full-color posters

Excellence in Financial Literacy Education Award Criteria

The Institute for Financial Literacy created the Excellence In Financial Literacy Education (EIFLE) Awards. The financial literacy awards promote the effective delivery of consumer financial products, services and education by acknowledging the accomplishments of those that advance financial literacy education.

• Nominations are open to the general public.
• Financial literacy award categories include Financial Educator, Organization, Financial Book, Financial Education Program, Published Research and Financial Literacy Instructional Game.

The Money Habitudes financial literacy curriculum won in the category of Children’s Education Program of the Year: Financial Responsibility and Decision Making.

Past EIFLE winners include Thrivent Financial, Feed The Pig, Pioneer Services, InCharge Education Foundation, Moonjar, Financial Finesse, Susan Beacham and Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, NEFE High School Financial Planning Program, D2D Fund, and Awesome Island.

This is an example of a Financial Lifestyle Planning Workshop in Tampa, FL. The  financial planning seminar, Financial Lifestyle Planning Workshop: Will I Be OK?, will be conduced by Holly P. Thomas. Thomas is a Certified Financial Planner in Tampa who provides fee-only financial analysis, planning and education.

Drawing on the fun and insightful Money Habitudes money personality assessment, the financial planning workshop in Tampa will focus on mapping what kind of lifestyle you want for the next chapter in your life (whether that chapter is retirement or pre-retirement):

• Discover what is and isn’t reasonable to expect from your money
• Understand how emotions may have entered into past money decisions you made
• Be prepared to make simpler, better decisions about spending, saving, sharing, and investing
• Be equipped to interview and hire financial professionals, knowing which ones are the best fit for your best interests
• Actually enjoy talking about money and your future
• Record your thoughts, concerns, and wishes in a workbook to form a blueprint for your decisions.

The issue:

Who: Donna Stallings, Case Manager and VIDA Coordinator at Virginia Supportive Housing.

What: Virginia Supportive Housing is a non-profit housing agency. It provides permanent supportive housing to homeless single adults (SRO) and families, including those graduating from homeless shelters and transitional housing. VSH provides integrated support services, notably a financial education curriculum for homebuyers and homelessness transition. VSH also teaches financial literacy workshops and provides financial counseling. Funding has come from private foundations, Low Income Housing Tax Credits, Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program, Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development, HUD and SAMSHA among others.

Who: Virginia Supportive Housing operates in and around the cities of Richmond, Petersburg, Charlottesville, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth and Norfolk. The non-profit focuses on homeless individuals and families. Clients are low-to-moderate income (LMI); many have incomes below 30 percent of median income. Other challenges include substance abuse, mental illness and physical disabilities.

How:

• Supportive housing and transitional housing clients are offered a series of financial education classes. VSH uses its own financial literacy curriculum, which includes Money Habitudes. Classes are optional for VSH residents. Although students get a supermarket gift card for attending all the classes, the financial literacy classes must still be enjoyable and appeal to them.
• The financial literacy curriculum is a series of four 2-hour classes. The financial classes are: (1) Core Values and Beliefs About Money, featuring Money Habitudes (2) Budgeting and Money Management (3) Understanding Credit, Reading Credit Scores and Credit Reports; Credit Repair (4) Banking and Saving, including opening a bank account for those who are unbanked.
• VSH also offers standalone financial literacy workshops and financial counseling for individuals and couples. VSH teaches classes for a women’s shelter, a Salvation Army men’s shelter, a homelessness transitional shelter for veterans, and foster kids.
• Typical classes are 10-20 students.
• The entire Core Beliefs class is based on the Money Habitudes exercise. After an introduction, each student sorts a deck of cards. Because of low literacy levels, Stallings allows 30-45 minutes for students to do the solitaire sorting process. She sometimes reads cards to those who can’t read.
• About an hour of the class is devoted to the money personality self-interpretation and group discussion. “There’s always somebody who will volunteer and share. And they’ll say, ‘This was really me! And I didn’t even realize it!’” says Stallings.

Why:

• It’s fun and active – versus boring, static lectures or PowerPoint presentations. “Even for me, personally, if I take a class and all the teacher does is stand up and lecture, they’re going to lose me in about 15 minutes. Classroom environments need to be interactive and engaging. Just sitting there is difficult,” says Stallings.
• The activity makes for a better environment for a teacher. “If I’m coming to them, just off the street, talking about budgeting, they’re like, ‘Who is this woman and why should I talk to her?’ Money Habitudes is a different approach that’s fun and meaningful,” says Stallings.
• It’s engaging but also empowering. “Money Habitudes is a much friendlier, non-judgmental way for people to get at their core issues. That’s why it’s more successful than what we did before having the Money Habitudes cards. Now they’re sorting the cards themselves; they’re saying this about themselves. It’s not me sitting there and pointing a finger saying, ‘You do this! And you do this! You need to do this! And you need to do this!’ It’s not like that. It’s ‘this is just how you are and here are some things you can do if you want to be more successful in managing your money.’ It’s the cards that are telling them, based on how they responded to the statements,” says Stallings.
• It builds trust. “The Money Habitudes exercise doesn’t just get the students to trust me, but it does something with the camaraderie in the room because everybody’s wall comes down. You’d be surprised how much they tell about themselves. And I don’t encourage them; this is what they do on their own. It’s because they’ve become comfortable and relaxed on their own because the game is done in a lighthearted, fun way.”
• It helps people like the idea of budgeting. “When you do the cards, it lets people see what their money personality is and why they’ve done things the way that they have. And they realize that the way they’ve been managing their money hasn’t been working for them. So they’re then open and excited to seeing how a budget can help them do better. They come into the second session on budgeting with a different attitude versus if we had started with that class. Because they’ve found out what their personality type is, now they want to see how they can fit that into a budget to make their financial picture better,” says Stallings.

Results

• 90 percent of VSH’s residents do not return to homelessness.
• VSH claims that the local community bears $9,500 to $13,500 per person to provide temporary housing; the organization provides housing for approximately $4,500, saving the public up to $9,000 per individual.

Observations and Comments:

• “Money Habitudes is not punitive, whereas some people see budgets as punitive, negative and restrictive, like, ‘This is going to keep me from doing what I want to do!’ So they don’t want to do it. But the cards give you a different way to present financial challenges,” says Stallings.
• “By doing the cards, it hits at the issues, but it does it in a fun way so now they don’t dread this person coming and talking to them about money because, first, ‘she made it fun’ and, second, ‘she helped me deal with some stuff,’ and third, ‘now I can trust her.’ The trust lead-in is definitely so important. If you just walk into a group that doesn’t know you and trust you and try to talk about money and budgeting, you’ll get a stonewall.”
• “If people know why they do what they do, it makes it easier to change – or to at least not get frustrated when certain things keep happening over and over again because they know why they’re doing it.”

The Issue:

Who: Rebecca Phipps, LPC, professional counselor and coordinator of the Between Us program at Catholic Charities Oregon. It operates under the national Healthy Marriage Initiative.

What: Phipps teaches life skills and financial literacy mainly to single teen mothers as well as some single teen fathers. She also teaches engaged and married couples and parents of teens in addition to some private counseling. Phipps teaches at public high schools, maternity homes and early college high schools. The teen program focuses on:

• Maturity Issues, What I Value
• Infatuation and Attraction
• Communication Between You and Me
• What’s Love?
• Peer Pressure: More Subtle than You Think
• Safe Relationships/Cycle of Abuse
• Basic Banking

How:

• Phipps uses Money Habitudes cards with teens, adults and young mothers when she covers communication, messaging, values and money.
• She starts by introducing students to general messages they get from the media – largely by showing magazine advertisements – and discussing what they mean and how we internalize them.
• After this introductory exercise, she next has each participant sort his or her own deck of Money Habitudes cards. After having everyone go through the money personality self-analysis step, she includes some group discussion about the results.
• She devotes about 20 minutes of the life skills class to doing the financial card sorting activity. Classes are 1-2 hours, depending on the venue.
• Phipps uses her own handout for the exercise. It asks participants how many cards they identified with in each Money Habitudes category and asks additional questions such as, “What Money Habitudes types show up when you’re feeling anxiety?”
• This leads to a discussion about what money messages we received growing up and what money messages we will give our children – consciously or unconsciously. “It’s really good because it gets them to ask, ‘What am I actually teaching my child? What are my Money Habitudes and what are the messages I’m sending to my child about handling money? And what do I need to look at for myself?’” says Phipps.
• Later in the class, she uses large sheets of paper to gather ideas from the group on wants-versus-needs and myths and facts about credit. “Wants and needs is really huge for a new parent. And the class really makes them think about it, and they start to share about it,” says Phipps.
• With longer classes, the section on values and money messages transitions to budgeting. Phipps uses a special budget worksheet geared for teen mothers. For example, it includes income categories for TANF, SNAP food stamps, etc. The budget also highlights expenses that teens may not be aware of because they have not yet lived on their own. These may include costs like doing laundry.
• To continue the money values discussion, Phipps also uses an activity she calls Vbay, a values auction. Students get to bid on items like higher education while sacrificing other items like manicures with limited dollars.

Why:

• To get teens and adults involved and interested in the class. “Me, personally, I like activities so I always introduce them into whatever I’m doing. I’ve seen it done and because they engage people, they remember,” says Phipps.
• As a way to make the discussion about financial wants and needs more personally relevant. “What happens is that they may already know they’re Spontaneous and they start thinking, ‘I need to make changes! I can’t just get a manicure!’ But if you only have a hundred dollars, you see how you need to buy diapers and something else, you can’t buy everything you want. In that session, they realize that life’s different now,” says Phipps.
• Unlike other financial education exercises, Money Habitudes is nonjudgmental. “I like the classification of the Money Habitudes cards. I think it helps people see the positives and the challenges, to think, ‘I’m not bad and I’m not good; I just have to think about it.’ It gets them involved because they’re looking at themselves as they’re doing the cards; they’re  doing some good self-examination. It’s like a mirror that shows someone what they’re like and they say, “I am really like that. Yeah, I am,’” says Phipps.

• an acquired behavior pattern
• that is followed regularly
• so that it is almost involuntary

Examples of spending habits

Spending habits are often contextual. You spend the same way with the same set of conditions. Because it’s a habit, it may be so natural and involuntary that you don’t even realize it.

• You always spend a lot of money right after you get paid. That might mean taking your family out to dinner every payday.
• You always give to charity at the end of the year.
• You have a habit of spending on souvenir T-shirts on vacation.
• You always wait until the last-minute to buy a plane ticket.

How do spending habits form?

Where do our spending habits come from? It varies, but we are largely influenced by what’s around us. This includes:

• Observing and following the spending habits of our parents or other significant people around us. If your mother always brought flowers when visiting a relative, you may do that too. However, you may not even realize it’s not what everyone does.
• Our culture and society. Different cultural norms dictate what spending habits are normal. One culture may always spend lavishly on a wedding while another culture may not spend much at all. An Asian culture may see spending in different ways than a Latino culture. Someone raised in great wealth may have spending habits that are very different from someone raised poor.
• One’s religion and spiritual beliefs. As a facet of culture, religion can have a strong shaping force on spending habits. For example, to tithe and give money to one’s church becomes a natural spending habit. Many religions reinforce giving alms or donating to charity.
• Our own unique personalities and experiences also play a role. Two siblings raised in the same environment may have very different spending habits. One might be a hoarding saver while the other may be a free spirited spender. This includes other forces such as gender and the gender roles one sees and perceives.
• The media also has a role in how we spend and save. Think about the spending habits of the characters you saw on TV as you were growing up – and today. Did those characters eat out often? Did they often go shopping? Did they forgo what they wanted in order to save for retirement?

Why is it hard to break spending habits?

Imagine the path a river wears into the earth. Every day the river follows the same path. It takes a dramatic or catastrophic event to change the course of the river. In much the same way, we habituate ourselves to how we spend and save. Over time, it becomes more and more difficult to change a habit because that habit has become more and more natural. The challenge of changing your spending habits is creating a “new normal.” That involves behavior change. People often try to change their behavior. One of the most common behavior changes people seek is dieting. If you’ve spent years and years eating the same way, it is very difficult to change that pattern. That’s true even if you want to change, know you should, and even if you understand what the new pattern would be.

Better understand your spending habits with Money Habitudes

An important part of the behavior change process is not just understanding what you spend; it’s also important to understand why you spend the way you do. It means not just doing a budget and recording your spending. It also means examining all the factors above to put your spending habits in context. You can’t change what you don’t understand. Money Habitudes helps people understand their money habits and attitudes because:

• It makes it fun and easy to understand how we spend, save, invest, go into debt, give to others, etc.
• Is hands-on. Whether it’s financial education for adults or teens, no one likes to just sit at a desk and listen to a lecture. Same thing goes for worksheets and PowerPoints. People find many typical learning and assessment activities to be boring. Money Habitudes isn’t.
• Is nonjudgmental. One thing that makes people so hesitant to think about their spending and to talk about the way they spend and save is that it often feels judgmental. With Money Habitudes, there is no right or wrong answer. Instead, the goal is for people to feel comfortable discussing and explaining how and why they spend the way they do.
• It helps people see spending patterns and the motivations behind them. Often people discover that they spend with restraint when out with one friend but spend with reckless abandon when out with another friend.
• The versatile financial activity can be used on one’s own, with a spouse or partner, or as part of a financial education group, class or workshop.

College Financial Education Week

Red to Black is an outreach initiative of Texas Tech’s Personal Financial Planning group. This year Red to Black is celebrating its 7^th annual Financial Education Week. The financial literacy week raises awareness about personal finance issues and offers fun, education opportunities for college students to partake in money management. The financial literacy outreach activities that are planned include:

Colleges with student financial education clubs and peer financial counseling

The following are colleges and universities that have peer financial counseling and financial education programs similar to Red to Black.

• BYU’s Financial Path to Graduation
• Iowa State University Financial Counseling Clinic
• Ohio State – Financial Wellness
• University of Arizona (UA) Credit-Wise Cats (CWC)
• UGA Georgia Peer Financial Counseling Program
• Iowa Student Credit & Money Management Services
• UMN Managing College Life: Your Money, Your Housing, Your Future
• Missouri Office for Financial Success
• Wisconsin FOCUS Peer Financial Counseling and Money Talks Seminars

A Personal Finance Game

Money Habitudes is often used as a personal finance game. At least it’s often introduced or presented as a personal finance game or savings game. Why? Because people – including college students – don’t want to be bored.

It’s much more interesting and approachable to participate in a game versus just listening to a lecture. However, it’s more than a personal finance game. The interactive deck of cards is also a financial conversation starter, and helps people talk about money. Because it’s a money personality assessment, it helps people understand their saving and spending habits. This self-awareness then leads to other money management topics, such as handling student loans or budgeting.

Money Habitudes in College and Community College Financial Education Programs

• College and Community College Personal Financial Education – Case Study
• Community college financial education for Money Smart Week
• Community college and university personal financial literacy classes
• Money Habitudes for Teachers and Youth Leaders

That’s me (statements that describe my money personality type)

• Targeted Goals 9
• Selfless 4
• Security 2
• Status 1
• Free Spirit 0
• Spontaneous 0

sub-total 16

That’s not me (statements that do not describe my money personality type)

• Free Spirit 8
• Spontaneous 7
• Security 6
• Status 5
• Selfless 2
• Targeted Goals 0

sub-total 28

That’s sometimes me or That’s partially true

• Selfless 3
• Status 3
• Spontaneous 2
• Security 1
• Free Spirit 1
• Targeted Goals 0

sub-total 10

 Total 54

 Interpreting Money Habitudes money personality type assessment results: That’s me

1. While it’s certainly important to understand how to interpret the Money Habitudes cards, bear two things in mind. First, the more times that one uses the cards in classes or counseling (which could be couples counseling, financial planning, financial literacy, career coaching, etc.), the more comfortable and familiar one will become with the patterns that emerge from different money personality type card sorts. (Also the Guide for Professionals has a lot more information on interpreting what the cards mean in terms of money personality type versus the basic eight yellow cards included in each Money Habitudes deck of cards.) Second, much of the strength of the cards is that they are a financial conversation starter. As an ice breaker, they allow people to explain how and why they think the cards are a fit and describe them, their life and financial patterns. Simply asking a student or client to explain how the cards fit with his or her life can be very helpful; as you’re listening to them, it actually keeps them more involved than you just talking at them.
2. A first thing to notice is that the card sort came out with 16 “That’s me” cards. That’s about what we’d like to work with; usually we look for about 10-15 cards in that pile. If there are very few cards in that pile, we ask people to move the strongest “Sometimes” cards over to “That’s me.” If there are lots of cards – 20 or 30 or more – we’d often have people take out the weakest cards in their “That’s me” pile and move them to “Sometimes.”
3. While it’s not exceptional for someone to say “Yes, that’s me” to all 9 cards in a category, it doesn’t happen all the time. Such a result indicates that this category is very, very strong in one’s money personality type. That’s the case here with Targeted Goals (or “Planning” in the Young Adult and Teen versions).
4. We’d typically say that having 4 or more cards in one of the Habitudes categories signifies a very important or “dominant” Habitude money type. In this case, Targeted Goals is very, very dominant and Selfless (or “Giving” in the other versions) is a strong second-place money personality type.
5. Looking at this person, the advantages and challenges (on the yellow interpretation card) for Targeted Goals will probably resonate quite strongly. If someone had 4 or 5 cards in that category, the highs and lows probably wouldn’t be as high or low. Just as someone may have a great strength in planning and setting goals, that person may also have a hard time adapting to a changed situation, listening to others, making a quick decision without doing a lot of research, etc.
6. It’s good to think of how one Money Habitudes category moderates another. In this case, think about the difference between someone who has 9 Targeted Goals cards and 4 Selfless cards versus someone who has the opposite: 9 Selfless cards and 4 Targeted Goals cards. While this is all dependent on the person and subjective – as we all see money in different ways – we might summarize the difference as follows: The first person will generally plan what to do with his money and will often prioritize using his money to help others in some significant way; that might be giving to a charity, helping one’s family, etc. On the other hand, we could say that the second person might be very giving, but would do that giving in a planned, premeditated way. To carry it further, think about a third person who has 9 Selfless cards and no Targeted Goals cards. If someone walked up to the first person on the street and asked for money, he might say “No” and add, “I make a budget every year and I devote all of my charity to the XYZ Soup Kitchen.” The second person might give the person some money, but will stay within what he knows is a planned boundary, e.g., “I know I can afford to give this person $5.” The third person may very well empty his pockets to the other person, thinking little of his own financial welfare.
7. Bear in mind that while there are many healthy, positive financial personality traits associated with Targeted Goals, the planning predilection doesn’t necessarily say they are the right goals – or what you as a facilitator, therapist or teacher believe are the right goals. For example, someone may decide at the age of 18 that he is going to own a Ferrari at 25. Is that a good goal? Of course, it depends and you’re best to listen to this person and understand his thought process. However, we can probably agree that if one cashes in a college trust fund, forgoes two out of three daily meals for years and lives cheaply in a very unsafe neighborhood, and never takes a vacation from a job where one is working overtime all to afford a 6-figure car, it’s probably not a good financial balance. The question for someone with such Targeted Goals strength is whether one’s goals are the right goals.
8. Although one frequently sees Targeted Goals and Security cards working in tandem, they’re not the same money personality tendencies. Having a lot of Targeted Goals cards doesn’t necessarily mean you’re saving. Having a lot of Security cards means you probably save a lot (or at least don’t spend a lot), but it may be more reflexive versus planned. For example, if you see that your car needs new tires, someone with a lot of Security cards might not replace those tires until one blows out and must be fixed; that’s not-spending to the exclusion of planning. In this case, the 9 Targeted Goals cards certainly predominate over the 2 Security cards. Is this good? Is it bad? It depends. This person may look at the advantages and disadvantages on the yellow interpretation cards and think it is the right balance in his life. If not, then one would look on the back of the yellow cards for some suggested next steps to readjust one’s balance.
9. What does having 1 Status card mean? Well, generally we want people to pay close attention to the extremes: categories where they have a lot of cards (8 or 9) or very few (0 or 1). That might mean that someone is over- or underusing strengths in that category. Let’s take the example of buying clothes. Someone with all 9 Status cards might very well spend lots and lots of money on looking good and presenting a positive impression – to the point where one can’t actually afford to spend that money. Here, there’s often an element of acceptance-seeking, of wanting to fit in or be seen by others as successful, etc. On the other hand, someone with no Status cards, may care very little for how he dresses. He might be wearing the same clothes he’s had for 20 years, thinking honestly to himself, “Why do I need new clothes? I don’t need to impress anyone!” But let’s then say that the person with 0 Status cards goes on a job interview wearing a suit from 20 years ago. He may not care what he looks like and may believe that others shouldn’t care what he looks like (not judging a book by its cover, so to speak). However, the person conducting the interview might say, “Wow, this guy looks like he walked out of a time portal. If he’s dressed like that, I doubt he’s current with what’s going on in the field. And I couldn’t imagine going to meet a client with this guy because he looks so out-of-date and shabby.” And then that person doesn’t get the job. So what may come from a discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of the Status cards is whether this person has been negatively affected by not presenting a positive impression? If someone says, “Wow, I keep going to job interviews and not getting the job and that might be why!” then that’s a very valuable financial epiphany. In this case, springing for a new suit might be a great investment – even if this person believes hiring managers should care what’s in his brain and not on his shoulders.
10. Along with the point above about Targeted Goals vs. Security, let’s consider the two empty money personality types: Free Spirit (“Carefree” in the other Money Habitudes versions) and Spontaneous. Beyond not having any of these cards in the “That’s me” pile, this person has said that they really don’t describe him; almost all of them are in the “Not me” pile: 8 Free Spirit and 7 Spontaneous. Again, when looking at the yellow cards for these two Habitudes, one would be missing the advantages of them (such as making a quick decision on financial matters, etc.) but also wouldn’t have the disadvantages (the possibility of going into debt over impulsive spending, etc.). This might be the right balance for this person at this time in his life. However, generally the question we ask when someone has an empty category is, “Would your life be better off if you had some of the positive traits of the missing category?” In this case, a concern might be that this person could be too serious with money and isn’t enjoying life or taking advantage of financial opportunities that present themselves. For example, this might be going on vacation – or changing plans to go on an awesome once-in-a-lifetime excursion when on vacation, even if that side trip wasn’t on the original planned itinerary. Often financial experts put budgeting in the context of deprivation by saying, in essence, “Make a budget so you know what not to spend on.” However, for someone with so many Targeted Goals and a lack of Free Spirit and Spontaneous cards, he might want to “budget for fun.” That might mean saying, “Every month, I have $100 to spend to enjoy myself; it might be a nice dinner or going to the theater or going camping.

Interpreting Money Habitudes money personality type assessment results: Sometimes me

1. Looking at the “Sometimes me” pile, we’d ask questions like, “Why is that sometimes true?” “When is that true?” “Who are you with when that’s true?” This pile gets to situational and contextual tendencies.
2. In this example, there are 3 Status cards that our client has said are “sometimes” true. By re-reading the Status statements in that pile, he may see one that says, for example, “I always want to pay the whole check when I eat out with other people.” Asking the “who, what, where, why, when” questions, it may be that he’s likely to feel like paying for everyone in only certain cases. It may be when he’s with his wife’s family. It may be that he came from humble beginnings whereas his in-laws are very wealthy and he wants to prove to them that he belongs, is successful, is like them, and can provide for his family. Or it may be as simple as, “Right after payday, I feel much freer to share my money with those who happen to be around me – even if it’s a bunch of strangers at a bar that I buy drinks for.” In either case, it helps people see and talk about money issues and recognize larger saving and spending habits in their lives.
3. In many cases, someone keys in on the situation and is able to make a quick positive behavior change. It may be a card that talks about spending freely when shopping and the person may realize, “Wow, whenever I go out shopping with Mary, I buy things I don’t need and can’t afford, but she’s so fun and we have such a good time at the mall. That doesn’t happen when I’m by myself or out with my other friends.” Here, one might be able to change behavior by simply putting a cap on how much one spends when shopping with Mary or realizing that it would be just as much fun to spend time with Mary even if that means walking around the park or getting coffee.

1. Finally, as mentioned above, with the “Not me” pile, the question we’d generally ask is, “If you look at the advantages of the cards there that don’t describe your financial tendencies, would you like to have more of those in your life?” What’s important about the Money Habitudes tool is that while it is a money personality type assessment, it’s also very much a financial conversation starter. This methodology and format gives a facilitator, teacher, therapist, financial planner, etc., an opening to understand what’s going on in someone’s life. They can then offer advice or suggestions that are not just sound financial practice, but also mesh with the real person in front of them.
2. We hear about people, for example, who’ve just been laid off and now find it harder to spend money spontaneously because they’re so bent on conserving their funds. They may, therefore, have a lot of Spontaneous cards in the “Not me” pile. To think more about spending habits and to dial back on spending is a natural reaction to losing a job. To add some financial spontaneity to their life, should you encourage them to go out on a spending spree? Probably not. But there may be a side-effect of losing a job where one also really dials back on the socializing that one used to do. Or one might be a lot less prone to spend money when a good opportunity comes up. When it comes to getting a new job, that might very well require that one sees a networking event that costs $50 and will cost $200 to travel to and prepare for – but it may very well be worth it and it might make sense for that person to make that decision on the spot to spend that money. Or it might mean taking a new job in anew city or enrolling in a training class – which might draw on some of the real strengths of the Spontaneous personality.

They key is to start the money conversation with the Money Habitudes cards and then let it lead where it may. Talk about money and then transition to: making a budget, creating a spending plan, meeting with a financial planner, arranging to see a therapist, taking a vacation, signing up to volunteer somewhere, looking at other career options, or the like. In the end, the assessment component is important, but the conversations it starts are often more valuable.

Harper’s Money Smart Week presents: Money Habitudes for Students

When:Tuesday, April 24, 2012

2:00 PM – 3:00 PM

Cost: FREE

Money Habitudes is a fun and easy way to discover the role money plays in people’s lives, how their Money Habitudes formed and what they can do about it if they want to make changes to reach their financial and life goals.

Learn about your Money Habitudes and how they affect how you spend, save and earn money!

This event is part of Harper’s Money Smart Week, sponsored by Student Activities.

See: http://www.moneyhabitudes.com/

Contact: Office of Student Activities 847.925.6242

This is, of course, just one of the many ways and places where Money Habitudes cards are used.

Examples of financial education classes and relationship workshops that use Money Habitudes:

Why do community colleges use Money Habitudes in personal finance classes?

• Fun like playing a card game. The hands-on cards aren’t boring like a lecture, PowerPoint or worksheet.
• Work with diverse audiences in financial education classes. This is especially true at a community college or junior college with a range of different students.
• As a money personality assessment, help people really understand their saving and spending habits.
• Easily transition to other financial literacy curricula and classes. This may include debt elimination, budgeting, credit repair, student loans, financial aid, buying a home, etc.
• As a financial conversation starter and ice breaker, make it fun and easy for college students to talk about money.
• Easy to teach and easy to use as a teacher. Also easy to teach in a train-the-trainer environment.
• A good, non-threatening introduction to financial literacy. Popular with community financial education awareness events like Money Smart Week.

Common traits of community college financial education seminars:

• Financial education workshops at universities and community colleges are often free or have a nominal fee. That’s the case with this one which uses Money Habitudes cards.
• They are often standalone classes and are short in duration. This college seminar is only an hour.
• As they compete against lots of other student activities, they must appeal to college students. The financial education class must seem fun, interesting, relevant or important.
• Often part of a series. This might include other financial education workshops, life skills classes, career seminars or relationship classes.

Case study: community college financial education class with Money Habitudes cards … 

Why does personal financial literacy matter for university and community college students?

• According to the 2008 Jump$tart Coalition personal financial literacy survey, funded by Merrill Lynch Foundation, high school seniors correctly answered only 48.3 percent of the questions. This is a decrease from the 52.4 percent in 2006.
• The 2008 personal finance survey results indicated higher financial literacy scores for college students versus high school students. College students answered 62 percent of the questions correctly. College freshman averaged 59 percent correct; college seniors correctly answered 65 percent. That’s still not a passing grade.
• “The purpose of a college education is to help students learn how to solve problems,” said Kristy Vienne who directs Sam Houston State’s Student Money Management Center, which helps students help themselves, “and we see a lot of students who are in need of solutions. The first step is to become financially literate.”
• The average student has roughly $23,000 in student loans, $4,000 in credit card debt and 4 credit cards.
• It takes as few as 10 hours to change financial illiteracy into financial literacy.

Examples and test results: High School, College, Community College and University Personal Financial Literacy Quiz

• Jump$tart – Personal Financial Literacy of Young American Adults
• 2008 High School Financial Literacy Survey, with responses
• 2008 College Financial Literacy Survey, with responses
• UMASS Five College Federal Credit Union (FCU) Financial Literacy Quiz
• Iowa State University, Office of Student Financial Aid Financial Literacy Quiz

Where do financial literacy classes and financial counseling occur on college and community college campuses?

• Financial education classes are often offered by college financial aid or student aid offices. This may be part of regular financial aid services (e.g., FAFSA, Pell Grants, etc.) or it can be associated with emergency financial aid. TRIO colleges must, for example, offer financial education as part of grant requirements.
• Student counseling services offices. There is a big overlap between financial issues and other life and academic issues.
• Residence life programs on life skills and financial education that take place in dorms.
• Career centers and career counselors and coaches. Part of getting a job is understanding how to effectively manage one’s personal finances and plan for the future.
• Financial classes. This may be in business schools that teach accounting and financial planning. Or it may be in family and consumer science (FACS) classes teaching financial education concepts.
• Peer financial counseling. This is offered on a select number of college campuses. In Addition to SamHoustonState, a good example of this is seen in Texas Tech’s Red to Black student financial counseling program. (Red to Black uses Money Habitudes cards.)

Why and how Money Habitudes is used in college and university financial literacy programs:

1. Money Habitudes is a fun, hands-on teaching tool. Because it feels like playing cards, it seems like a familiar game. The tactile feel gets college students more involved than just listening to lectures, doing worksheets or watching a PowerPoint presentation.
2. We know that busy college students don’t want to go to a boring financial class, even if they need it.
3. The cards get beyond making a budget to begin important conversations about the interaction between lifestyle, values and finances, leading to behavior change breakthroughs in saving and spending habits.
4. Much like a personal finance game, Money Habitudes is easy for facilitators, coaches and counselors to learn and easy to teach.
5. The Money Habitudes cards can be used by individual financial counseling or in financial education classes.
6. It gets college students to talk about money – and do it in a fun, effective, nonjudgmental way. The Money Habitudes money management game can be easily integrated with other personal finance or student financial aid materials.
7. It’s a flexible tool. It can be used as a money personality assessment or as more of a financial conversation starter. It can be used just as a quick money ice breaker or as a full class that serves as an introduction to money management. Using the cards can take a few minutes or can last for an hour or two.
8. As a money personality test, it addresses financial behavior, habits, attitudes and money values. Allows for financial classes to address financial behavior and relationship issues; transitions well to financial skills-based classes and curricula.
9. The financial conversation starter cards get students to talk about money. Money is an important topic that produces real conversations. A college – or especially a community college – with a large number of commuter students may find that the cards spark conversations which build camaraderie.
10. The cards use simple language and statements. Questions like, “When I’m stressed I go shopping?” key on lifestyle issues. They do not require an understanding of financial concepts and don’t require a participant to do math. The Money Habitudes II cards in financial education classes for college and community college groups.

Types of personal finance classes and financial counseling that use Money Habitudes in colleges, community colleges and universities:

• Budgeting
• Student loans
• Money management
• Buying a home, foreclosure prevention
• Buying a car
• Debt elimination, debt consolidation
• Love and money; finances and relationships
• Employee benefits
• Bankruptcy
• Post-graduation expenses
• Family and premarital finances
• Building credit
• Investing and retirement

Why prisoner reentry programs include personal financial education:

• With most offender reentry programs, an ultimate goal is to reduce the recidivism rate. (The SVORI Initiative reports that, “In the US, over 600,000 individuals are released from prisons and jails each year. It is estimated that approximately two-thirds are re-incarcerated within three years.”)
• Many offenders have not previously learned about personal finance. Many offenders have not seen healthy money habits and attitudes modeled for them as they were growing up. Also, many in prisoner reentry programs never had personal finance classes in school.
• Having stable finances contributes to a more stable life and lifestyle. This can be illusive for ex-offenders. Being financially stable can also be a big element in self-worth.
• Financial literacy and financial capability are central issues for those in prisoner reentry programs. Money becomes important:
  • because it is difficult for ex-offenders to find jobs.
  • to pay rent or get a place to live.
  • to eat.
  • to clothe one’s self, especially in light of finding a job.
  • to find a car or pay for other forms of transportation.
  • to provide for a family.
  • to repay debts (such as credit card debt, child support payments, alimony, even old parking tickets, etc.)
• The top source of arguments between couples is money. When couples fight about money, it makes other parts of the relationship more difficult. With so many other relationship stresses, learning to manage and talk about money is especially important for offender reentry.

Of course, aside from prisoner reentry, many other programs include financial education for similar reasons. Many fatherhood programs (some of which already serve prisoner reentry participants) and asset-building programs for low-to-moderate income (LMI) groups have similar reasons for including personal financial education classes.

Why prisoner reentry programs use Money Habitudes in financial education classes:

• Money Habitudes is a fun, hands-on teaching tool. Formatted like playing cards, it feels like a familiar game. Because it’s tactile, it gets inmates more involved than just listening to lectures, doing worksheets or watching a PowerPoint presentation.
• It’s a flexible tool. It can be used as a money personality assessment or as more of a financial conversation starter.
• Much like a personal finance game, Money Habitudes is easy for facilitators to learn and easy to teach.
• The Money Habitudes cards can be used by individual offenders, couples, or groups. They can be used in personal finance classes, marriage and relationship classes. They can be used in financial coaching and relationship or marriage counseling sessions. They can also be employed in ex-offender support groups.
• It gets inmates and ex-offenders to talk about money – and do it in a fun, effective, nonjudgmental way. As a result, the Money Habitudes money management game can be easily integrated with other materials. These might include prison reentry modules, life skill classes, personal finance curricula (including budgeting), communication and conflict resolution courses, etc. Examples include PREP, Gary Chapman’s 5 Love Languages, Dave Ramsey/Financial Peace University, Couple Checkup, etc.
• It can be used just as a quick money ice breaker or as a full class that serves as an introduction to money management. Using the cards can take a few minutes or can last for an hour or two.
• Works with men and women; especially good feedback from guys who are not as open to sharing their feelings and talking about money.
• As a money personality test, it addresses financial behavior, habits, attitudes and money values. It transitions well to skills-based money management classes and curricula as well as budgets. Also works with employment and career counseling.
• Used in concert with other prisoner reentry modules, including those specifically addressed by the Second Chance Act, including: employment assistance, substance abuse treatment, housing, family programming.
• Allows for financial classes to address behavior and relationship issues around money. Allows communication and relationship classes and lessons to be applied to the big issue of money and personal finances.
• The cards use simple language and statements. Questions like, “When I’m stressed I go shopping?” key on lifestyle issues. They do not require an understanding of financial concepts and don’t require a participant to do math. The Money Habitudes II cards are often used in offender programs, regardless of students’ ages.

What: As part of the college’s Student Support Services grant through the US Department of Education’s TRIO program, the program must offer a variety of seminars to all recipients. One of these requirements is personal economic literacy.

Who: Located on the outskirts of Appalachia, Northwest-Shoals Community College’s students are a mixture of returning adult students and students of traditional age who aren’t going directly to a four-year institution. Some 70-80% of the community college’s students qualify for federal assistance (i.e., Pell Grants) and many are the first in their families to go to college. As a result, much of the student body is considered “at risk” for not finishing their degree. The mandate of the school’s Student Support Services Program is to assist students with course selection, academic tutoring, academic advising, financial aid and personal economic literacy education to ensure they get through school.

How:

• Money management classes are generally comprised of one or two dozen students at desks or tables.
• Total class time is approximately one hour.
• The money management classes start with an introduction to personal finance and then students identify a spending vice – such as buying a coffee every day – and then multiply the cost per week, month, year to understand the effect of small changes in spending.
• About 15 minutes into the class, students use the Money Habitudes cards. This serves to invigorate the audience because of the fun, hands-on nature of the exercise. The cards dovetail with the introductory spending exercise by helping students understand their own financial habits and attitudes and letting them talk about money. The class uses the Money Habitudes II cards, commonly used in universities and community colleges.
• Depending on the degree of conversation, the class usually includes about 30 minutes for the Money Habitudes exercise. An introduction of the cards is followed by the solitaire sorting process then the money personality self-interpretation step. Following the financial conversation starter, there is then 15-30 minutes of group discussion.

Why:

Although offering the personal finance class is a grant requirement, the Money Habitudes cards are used for three ends:

• Make the SSS staff and its offerings approachable and non-threatening. “People don’t want to feel judged. So you want a very non-intimating, easy way to talk about money,” says Tomlinson. It’s important that students feel comfortable in their interactions with the staff because the goal is to continue to help students in a variety of ways. In addition to financial aid and personal economic education, they want students to seek them out for academic support, scheduling, advising and curriculum planning.
• Make financial education personally relevant and interesting. To this end, a discussion of one’s money personality and habits and attitudes can put spending and savings decisions in context. This might be whether to buy a new or used car – and what one really needs versus what one wants. “We want them to think before they spend their Pell Grant award and take out the maximum allowed on their student loans,” says Tomlinson.
• Foster a bond between students; an ice breaker and conversation starter that goes beyond finances. “Because we are a commuter college, we want students to connect with each other and sometimes it’s very difficult to do that; they come in, they go to class, they leave. And so we like for them to talk with each other and get to know each other and make a bond.”

Observations and Comments:

• We loved them! Because it’s engaging. It’s active learning. It’s participatory. It’s not just us talking to them or at them – it actually engages them in the process. And it’s fun.
• We like to get the students to talk and we’ve found that these cards will promote discussion.
• It’s really hard to find interactive things that are financial in scope but which aren’t  scary. Other activities make it seem like, “You’re doing everything wrong!” We always try to accentuate the positive with our students, and encourage them to make positive choices when it comes to their education and their money.  Playing solitaire with the Money Habitudes cards allows us to do just that.

1. Yahoo! Finance Financially Fit Survey from Yahoo! and Fitness Magazine (November 2011)
2. YourTango.com Survey

Both reassert what we already know: often couples fight about money. Further, it’s difficult for couples to talk about money. Granted, the two surveys arrive at slightly different conclusions about why couples fight and the role money plays in those fights.

Survey results: why couples fight

The Yahoo! survey reinforces the traditional ranking of money as the biggest cause of couples’ arguments:

1. Men and women agree: money is the number-1  issue couples fight about (26 percent). Other causes of couples’ fights include:
2. chores (13%)
3. kids (8%)
4. sex (8%)
5. in-laws (8%)

On the other hand, the financial habits and attitudes survey from YourTango.com finds what it calls a surprising result: money fights were not at the top of the list of what couples argue about. It finds that couples “fight, split and seek counseling” because of:

1. Communication problems. (“72% of therapists listed ‘communication problems’ as the #1 reason couples seek therapy.”)
2. Lack of emotional intimacy.
3. Fighting about money.
4. Sex.

The survey found that, once in therapy for such marriage arguments, the top cause for failure is a lack of effort.

Much of the discrepancy between the “money fight” surveys may result from who was surveyed:

• The Yahoo! survey polled 2,000 Americans. They were ages 18 to 64. They were representative of the U.S. online population. It was an online quantitative survey.
• The other survey was pulled form YourTango Experts. Although the actual sample size is not given, the press release notes that the entire expert population is 1100. This includes psychotherapists, counselors, coaches and other helping professionals.

In one case, it’s a question of what couples think their issues are. In the other, it shows what therapists and counselors think their clients’ issues are. Fighting about money is a clearer cause for clients but seen differently by professionals.

Interestingly, the Yahoo! Survey also notes a significant difference in who controls family finances:

• 49% of adults say they share control of finances with their significant others.
• 41% claim they have sole control.

A money fight necessitates talking about money

However, both surveys show that couples still fight about money – and do so a lot. And both still point to the value of having a tool to help couples talk about money. Without addressing money fights (or these other top issues), a couple may be in for a rocky road, perhaps leading to divorce. Both explain why Money Habitudes cards are used as a financial conversation starter by couples on their own as well as by professionals (couples counselors, marriage therapists, financial planners, etc.).

Even if money is only the fourth-most-important reason why couples fight (while it is habitually first in other polls), it is still a crucial issue for couples. Also, although Money Habitudes focuses on financial habits and attitudes, it is very much a tool to help couples communicate. Ask anyone who’s had couples make a budget and you’ll hear that money fights aren’t so much about the actual dollars and cents. Instead, couples fight about money because of:

• differing beliefs, values, habits, attitudes, behaviors.
• a lack of understanding and communication about these issues.

For this reason, Money Habitudes cards are:

• Used in financial education, financial literacy and financial capability programs on one hand.
• Also used in marriage and relationship classes and counseling.
• One of the few tools that crosses the gap between financial skills and couples communication skills.

Communicating about money and avoiding money fights

Indeed, what the YourTango survey may reveal is what we hear all the time from marriage therapists: when couples fight about money, they’re not really fighting about money. A money fight is typically is a proxy for other issues such as:

• Love
• Generosity
• Freedom
• Respect
• Acceptance
• Responsibility
• Status
• Independence
• Security
• Contentment
• Self-worth

It’s no surprise that money fights are really about other issues. And, of course, when couples can’t communicate about money – or those other, bigger, scarier topics – it’s bound to lead to difficulty or even divorce.

To this end, Money Habitudes, helps couples communicate about money. (That’s true for couples that are dating, engaged or newlywed, as well as those married a long time.) It helps them better understand and respect each other. It helps them see the other’s perspective. It helps couples avoid fighting about money. And much of what couples learn about themselves is applicable to other parts of their relationship.

Starting a conversation with the hands-on card game format makes the discussion fun and engaging. Couples often end up laughing and smiling about their differences rather than fighting about them – which is why therapists like using Money Habitudes as a conversation starter in counseling sessions.

As people come in all varieties, shapes, and sizes, so do their choices of personal expressions of love. But more often than not, the giver and the receiver express love in two different ways. This can lead to misunderstanding, quarrels, and even divorce.

The five basic Love Languages are:

1. Quality time
2. Words of affirmation
3. Gifts
4. Acts of service
5. Physical touch

Chapman’s Love Languages methodology is partly a personality test. The Love Languages self-assessment process determines which of the Love Languages resonate with you. From the questionnaire, you may discover that you prefer to show love with gifts while you like to be shown you’re loved through acts of service. On the other hand, your spouse or partner may be different. The personality quiz may reveal that he or she shows love through physical touch but wants to be shown love through words of affirmation.

Why is Love Languages so popular?

1. It’s easy to understand. There are only five Love Languages. And each personality category is, itself, easy to understand.
2. The self-assessment is a key to understanding one’s self. Many people never think about how they express love or how they want to be shown they are loved. It’s easy to think that “love is love” and there’s only one flavor.
3. The personality test also helps one better understand one’s spouse, partner or fiancé. By understanding yourself and your partner, it is easier to respect and sympathize with him or her.
4. The methodology and assessment questions are non-threatening and non-judgmental. There is no right or wrong. It shows that differences are natural and ok.
5. It serves as a great conversation starter for a few reasons. First, because most people never consider their “love personality type” it gives people new perspective on themselves, their partner, and how they interact. Second, the nonjudgmental approach makes it easier to discuss difficult topics. Third, it helps put hard feelings and misunderstandings in context so they’re seen more objectively.
6. The Love Languages methodology is broadly applicable. While there are slightly different versions of the assessment, the basic process and interpretation remains the same. It works for all couples: dating, engaged, newlywed and even those married a long time. It also applies to different ages, to heterosexual and homosexual couples and to people of different cultural backgrounds.

Money Habitudes is very similar to Love Languages – and the two programs are often used together in marriage and relationship classes and couples counseling. You can think of Money Habitudes as “The Six Languages of Money.”

Money Habitudes and Love Languages similarities: Conversation Starters & Personality Tests

As above, both share the following:

1. Easy to understand. Although we’ve done all-day trainings on the cards, there’s a 100+ page Guide for Professionals, dozens of variations on how to use the cards and they’re used by PhD therapists in a professional setting, the Money Habitudes cards were designed to be very simple. They can be done by a couple at home, on their own. One can understand the basic operation and interpretation in a few minutes and then run a successful counseling session or workshop using the cards. The cards make it easy to talk about money.
2. Better understand yourself. With spending and saving, people often see the money come in and go out, but rarely if ever think about why they see and handle money the way they do. Understanding that one spends money to feel secure and in control versus spending money to look good and be accepted allows people to understand bigger patterns in their financial lives and, where necessary, make change. It also lets them talk about money in an easier way.
3. Better understand your partner. This could be dating, engaged, newlywed or long-time married. (With money, it could also be a family member or business partner.) Often we misinterpret how the people around us act and why they do what they do. It’s not uncommon for a couple to use the Money Habitudes cards and to find clarity, sympathy, respect and even love as a result of better understanding how the other person sees money and spends and saves. Also, where couples differ in their money personality, they frequently see how they complement each other in positive ways. This is an important step when it comes to communication skills for couples. The lack of understanding and respect is what can lead to arguments or divorce.
4. Like the Love Languages personality quiz, Money Habitudes cards are non-threatening. The tactile, hands-on card game format feels like a game and not a test. It’s active, engaging and entertaining. The statements themselves are simple lifestyle questions (“I go shopping when I’m stressed,” etc.) versus computing compound interest or the like. And there is no right or wrong answer to the statements. Like Love Languages, Money Habitudes shows couples that people have natural money personality differences and one person isn’t right while the other is wrong.
5. Money Habitudes is a great conversation starter. This is true for couples doing the activity at home, but it’s also trusted by professionals such as marriage therapists, career counselors and financial planners. The ice breaker appeal comes from the fact that each statement card (there are 54) serves as its own conversation starter. The full card sort and interpretation serves as a larger, more in-depth financial conversation starter.
6. As with the 5 Love Languages, Money Habitudes is used across a wide spectrum. It’s used with dating and engaged couples, newlyweds and with married couples. It’s used with couples of varying sexual orientation. And it’s used with different ages (although there are different versions by age). It’s used as a standalone lesson or a financial ice breaker in financial or relationship classes and counseling.

How are Money Habitudes and Love Languages different?

1. On a very simple level, there are six Money Habitudes categories (or “money languages” so to speak) versus five Love languages. The similar number of personality types helps people understand that there is more than just one or two types of people. (People can’t be classified by just the “spender vs. saver” rubric.) Neither system uses so many types and subtypes so as to result in a confusing information overload.
2. While one will usually have a dominant money type with Money Habitudes, our system allows people to see what other Habitudes play into their complete money personality.
3. With Love Languages, there is a greater stress on changing your behavior for your partner than with Money Habitudes. The interaction with Money Habitudes is based more on a person asking, “Do I have the right balance in my life?” relative to his or her money personality type. In many cases, this inspires people to change or to better recognize how to interact or manage money with a partner.
4. Obviously, the way one uses Money Habitudes is quite different from Love Languages. Money Habitudes is a hands-on card game format versus a book, worksheet or online assessment (although look for a fun, tactile online version soon). The card game format reaches different learning styles and feels like a social game.

What: Marriages are subject to a variety of stresses. Few are greater than having one spouse incarcerated. It is in this prison environment that People of Principle works to strengthen marriages. Operating under a federal grant for Healthy Marriage Promotion and Responsible Fatherhood from the Administration for Children and Families, People of Principle provides relationship skills training for inmates through its Fathers Are Forever (FAF) Project. The project covers 13 prisons in Texas and New Mexico, along with 36 town parole boards. FAF teaches parenting skills, promotes two-parent families, and seeks to eliminate family violence.

Who: The ACF grant covers working with married or unmarried incarcerated men who have children. Inmates attend the relationship classes with a wife or partner. Brewer notes that many of the inmates have very limited educations; the program assumes a 4^th-grade reading level.

How:

• Brewer says that the People of Principle reentry program is based on doing “power seminars” where a year of relationship education is typically done in 8-12 hours over two days.
• The healthy marriage program is built around the Within Our Reach curriculum, designed by PREP, Inc. and based on the Speaker-Listener Technique.
• Classes are generally taught to groups of 6-12 couples.
• The relationship classes include anger management, preventing family violence, using  negotiated agreements to govern family life, skills-based parenting, and positive parent practices.
• Additional marriage and fatherhood modules include one on Transactional Analysis, one using Gary Chapman’s 5 Love Languages and two that Brewer developed called Words of the Heart and The Institutionalized Mind. The program also includes a Money Habitudes module for personal finance.
• “We felt like one of the weaknesses of our program was the lack of financial counseling,” says Brewer. Using the hands-on Money Habitudes program as a short lesson helps inmates understand their spending and saving patterns but also helps them better understand and interact with a spouse or partner when it comes to money.
• Traditionally the number one cause of arguments for couples, money is an especially important topic for prisoner reentry into society. The Money Habitudes-based financial module has proven successful because it is simple, understandable, fun and non-threatening.
• Although the Money Habitudes cards are written at a basic reading level, facilitators may still read the lifestyle statements to participants with low literacy levels. The brief card format is easier and more engaging to use than a worksheet or book.
• Recognizing that they have very little time to work with prisoners, People of Principle sees the FAF program as a way to open dialogue and spur participants to seek out more information and understanding on their own for all topics – which they do, says Brewer.

Why and Outcomes:

• The reentry program’s goal has two interdependent parts: to reduce recidivism rates and to preserve and strengthen inmates’ relationships.
• Brewer says they look at four elements that will keep a marriage together: education, faith, family, and having a job. FAF addresses these issues but does not do job placement; it does, however, address the economic component of stable marriages by including financial education.
• Because so much of the FAF program deals with understanding one’s partner, Money Habitudes is a natural fit. Used more in the context of relationships and conflict resolution (versus traditional financial literacy), it helps individuals better understand themselves when it comes to how and why they spend and save – and what their attitudes and values are around money. But it also helps them better understand and respect how their partner sees money, thereby promoting healthier discussions. Brewer recalls that participants would say, “This is exactly the problem we were having. It’s crazy that we have to go to prison to learn how to deal with it!”
• “What’s great about Money Habitudes is the tactile manipulation. That’s very important with people who are incarcerated. We try to use as little of the lecturer-fill-in-the-blank stuff as we can. We have learned that, especially in the prison population, participatory education is far superior to lecture style.”
•  “We had nothing but positive results. In fact, we never had a complaint and inmates are notorious for complaining when they don’t like something. Even the guards would eat up the Money Habitudes exercise. They’d ask question after question whenever we had a break so it was clear they were interested even though they weren’t actually participating!” says Brewer.
• After working with 300 couples, the program had only seen six divorces.

• make a budget.”
• enroll in a debt management course.”
• take the following steps to work on your family’s credit.”
• talk with a financial planner.”
• buy a house.”
• realign your investments appropriately.”
• check out these tips for retirement planning.”

How do you talk about money with a spouse, partner or fiance?

The problem is that the first step is much easier said than done: talk about money. If people can’t discuss money, they won’t make it to later steps with their personal finances: budgeting, cut back on spending, find ways to save more, visit a financial planner, etc.

Generally, couples don’t understand the basics of how to talk about money. Money is the number one source of couples’ arguments. Many people will say that they’d find it easier to talk about sex versus money!

Many premarital classes (i.e. marriage prep) include a module on finances in marriage. Many classes have engaged couples fill out a budget form. That sheet will include budget categories like:

• how much debt they have
• their salaries and investment income (i.e., how much money they make)
• what expenses they have (transportation, house, rent, food, entertainment, charitable gifts, medical, etc.)

Despite this premarital class structure, engaged couples will still often paint an inaccurate or incomplete picture of their joint finances. That can be on purpose or by ignorance.

When it is by ignorance, it is because one isn’t even aware of how much he or she is spending. This is typically referred to as “budget leaks” or “spending leaks.”  The classic example is the forgotten daily cup of coffee that adds up to hundreds, if not thousands of dollars a year.

On the other hand, when couples sit down to make a budget, they may knowingly hide debt, assets or income. There are many stories of couples getting married without sharing how much debt they have. It’s understandable because:

• Talking about money is difficult and stressful.
• Admitting the secret that one is in debt can be shameful and embarrassing.
• If this money secret isn’t shared upfront, it can become progressively harder to admit as the weeks, months and years go by.
• There is a legitimate fear that someone may break up with you or call off a wedding if, all of a sudden, you seem to be in financial trouble, have bankruptcy in your past, etc.

These same issues come up later in a marriage too. Of course, here money is a very big trust issue and, as such, a relationship concern. There can be a real desire to ignore debt for fear of it causing discord.

In cases where couples don’t go through a formal premarital program and do their own marriage prep, it can be very difficult to talk about money. That’s true for newlyweds. It’s also true for married couples who have never or rarely talked about money and now need to because it’s time to plan for retirement, etc.

Regardless, it’s easier to tell someone to sit down and talk about money with your partner versus actually having that conversation.

4 Tips to Talk about Money and Family Finances; Financial Conversation Starters

We recommend that married, engaged or dating couples (or family members or business partners), use Money Habitudes cards. The tool is a proven, fun way to start the conversation about money. However, even without using the cards, here are a few tips about how to talk about money. They help couples (a) actually broach the difficult subject, (b) share financial information honestly, (c) understand and respect each other better.

1. Admit the awkwardness. Start by acknowledging to your spouse or partner that talking about money can feel awkward, but it builds trust and lays a stronger foundation for your relationship.
2. Pick the right time and place. When getting started, give yourself the advantage of a time and place where you can relax. Planning a quiet evening over a relaxing dinner or coffee and dessert is a good start. It certainly beats trying to talk about your spending right after fighting about the credit card bill. Many couples who are successful with their finances set a regular “money date” that may be once a month, once a quarter or a few times a year. Try to avoid, “We need to talk about our money right now!”
3. Reminisce. An easy way to begin is to just share your memories and have a fun, open conversation. Try these conversation starters:
   1. Remember the first time you bought something with your own money? What did you buy? How did you get the money?
   2. What was your first job and what did you do with your money?
   3. How did you get money as a child and a teen?
   4. What did you learn from your religion about money?
   5. Growing up, how was money talked about in your home? Who paid the bills? How were big financial decisions made?
   6. If there were arguments about money when you were growing up, what caused them and how were you involved?
   7. How would you know when your parents disagreed about money?
   8. When you were a kid, did you think you were richer or poorer than your friends or relatives
   9. A simple conversation like this proves that you can talk about money in a constructive way. Then you can move on to more concrete topics later on: What expenses do we cut out this month? How much money will we need to retire? How can we fix our credit?
4. Clarify expectations. How do you both define what it would take for you to feel financially secure? How do you both feel about giving to your church, charities or to help friends and family? How much debt are each of you comfortable having month-to-month? What lifestyle do both of you project having in five years?

That’s not to say that teaching money management cannot have some component of lecture, PowerPoint or worksheet. However, relying solely on these teaching methods often leads to classes where students don’t seem invested or interested and don’t seem to make important connections between what happens in the classroom and what happens in real life. Also, while reading PowerPoint slides to a class may be easy, it usually does not make for a good teaching or learning experience in the way that learning games do.

It’s for these reasons, that students and teachers have enjoyed using Money Habitudes as part of money management and personal finance classes. Like other personal finance games, Money Habitudes offers a few advantages:

1. As a hands-on money management game, Money Habitudes is a welcome break from other teaching formats where students are more passive and less involved. This is true on a physical and emotional level. It’s very different to just sit quiet and still in your seat and listen to someone talk about personal finance versus being active, talking, and physically involved in learning how to spend or save money.
2. Personal financial games make spending, saving, investing and giving more personally relevant. It’s very different to fill out a form about what a mortgage is or how to compute APR versus actually buying a house or car – or at least doing so in a simulation. Money Habitudes helps people make the connection between how they see and use money in their own unique way and how that affects their bank balance.
3. Financial games are fun. Educational games are active. In many cases they involve some dimension of competition. And it’s different to just learn by listening versus learning by doing.

One of the really fun testimonials we hear all the time is that people who use Money Habitudes often want to do the personal finance game with their friends and family after taking a class. That’s a very different reaction compared to most personal finance classes where few people ever run home to make a budget. However, because Money Habitudes serves to break the ice when it comes to thinking and talking about personal finances, it often serves as a gateway to other money management steps: doing a budget, getting one’s credit report, seeing a financial planner, etc. Money management games should be fun enough that people want to use them — and share them.

Use Money Habitudes as an introductory lesson to other skills-based lessons or personal finance curricula (such as Money Smart). Beyond using only the cards in your classroom, check out the Dibble Institute’s Money Habitudes: How To Be Rich in Life & Love, a curriculum about money and relationships. The instructional game-based program is geared for high school teens and also used in after-school programs, foster care programs and faith-based money and relationship classes for teens.

Here’s the actual posting:

The Money Habitudes Workshop

 Join Norene Gonsiewski, LCSW and Tim Higdon, LPC in this fun and eye opening 1 day workshop. The Money Habitudes workshop is designed to help you to engage in productive conversations about money and understand the habits and attitudes that influence your actions and decisions regarding money. This workshop is the winner of several national awards for excellence in marriage education.

When: Saturday January 28th  9-5

Cost: $79.99 per couple, $49.00 individual

This workshop is for you if:

• You argue about money
• You struggle with setting and sticking to your financial goals
• You are sometimes dishonest about your spending
• You spend more than you earn
• You and your partner think and feel differently about money

1 Comment(s)

1. I’m so excited that you are offering this workshop. I’ve posted it on my blog, and plan to attend with Toni. I’m strongly encouraging my clients to attend!

Luna Jaffe, CFP

Spots in the class sold out and another session will be offered in later in the year.

How is this class like other relationship classes that use Money Habitudes?

1. Fun: Talking about money, meeting with a therapist or going to marriage counseling is not usually something people think of as “fun.” Using a fun, hands-on tool makes the relationship seminar more engaging and approachable.
2. Talk about money: The workshop addresses the biggest source of couples’ arguments: fighting about money.
3. A series of relationship classes: The class about talking about money is offered among other relationship classes which include: Getting the Love you Want, Keeping The Love you Find, Advanced Couples Workshop. Other classes are part of a series that includes more skills-based financial classes like budgeting (e.g. Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University or Suze Orman), getting out of debt, foreclosure, buying a house, bankruptcy, etc. Other classes might include communication skills, conflict resolution, life skills, etc.
4. Singles and Couples Class: The class format allows individuals or couples to participate. Some facilitators format classes so that couples interact more directly, while others encourage more group discussion.
5. Cost: Many financial classes that use Money Habitudes are offered free or at a nominal cost; in this case $80 for a couple for an all-day class. This is much less expensive than an hour of private couples counseling. Many classes are offered by community agencies, marriage therapists, a variety of non-profits and churches. Often classes and are sponsored by grants such as the Healthy Marriage Initiative or Responsible Fatherhood.
6. Materials: In this class, each participant will use a deck of Money Habitudes cards for Adults as well as the companion My Money Habitudes workbook. Some classes give materials to participants to take home; others reuse materials.
7. Time: Although it is common for marriage classes and marriage retreats to last all-day or be an entire weekend (such as Catholic marriage prep Pre Cana classes), many Money Habitudes classes are shorter. Many are 1-2 hours. (Shorter classes employ it as a quick conversation starter or money personality assessment.) This all-day couples class format allows individuals and couples to explore their money personalities in great depth and integrate other activities and discussion.

Special training is available to teach Money Habitudes (including train-the-trainer sessions) and there is also the Guide for Professionals which has more tips, tricks and information. However, there is no license fee to use the materials with a class. Of course, many classes are offered by diverse professionals with significant experience in their field, be it financial education, financial planning and investing, couples therapy, etc.

 What’s your Money Habitude?

As a child I liked to play cards. Go Fish, Gin Rummy, Crazy Eights, Slapjack, even a little bit of poker …

I never imagined that my work as a career counselor would overlap with my childhood love of cards. Then I discovered Money Habitudes, a card game that helps people discover their underlying feelings and assumptions about money. As a career counselor, I’ve seen firsthand how our attitudes about money impact the choices we make, both personal and professional.

I’ve found Money Habitudes® to be useful on a personal level as well. I get to enjoy a game of cards AND find out something new about myself. I played Money Habitudes® today and learned about my current dominant Habitudes with regard to money.  …

Want to play some cards? … Money Habitudes workshop on Wednesday, January 25, 2012 from 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM. For more information and to register click here.

Career Workshop

The previous post talked about how and why Money Habitudes cards are used in financial education classes. (Additional info can be found elsewhere within the site for teachers of financial education courses.) This JVS event is a career example and the reasons are similar, but here are some similarities between this career course and other job classes that use Money Habitudes:

1. Fun classroom activity: Many agencies and organizations use Money Habitudes because it feels like a game and because it’s hands-on, interactive and used like a fun classroom game. They also use it to mix up some of the “old reliable” classes they usually offer. And because it’s novel and non-threatening, it can be a good way to get new clients or students in the door – and have them come back for another class or coaching because they had a good experience.
2. Time: This class is 1.5 hours, which is maybe a little longer than many career seminars of an hour or so. However, having 90 minutes really lets a facilitator introduce and explain the activity. It lets one put it in context (in this case, “how our attitudes about money impact the choices we make, both personal and professional”). It provides enough time to do the sorting exercise without being rushed. And then it allows ample time for group discussion, questions and other activities. With less time, the cards are used more like an ice breaker or money attitudes conversation starter as opposed to a personality test teaching tool.
3. Complements other career classes: As a self-awareness class using a money personality test, the course dovetails well with the organization’s other offerings: Resume Clinic, Mock Interview Clinic, Find Your Next Job on Twitter (networking, social media), Salary Negotiation, Branding 2.0 (personal branding). Even without these other classes, talking about one’s money type in the context of a job or career often brings up issues around how you relate to others, how others see you, how you present yourself to an employer, etc. Salary negotiation issues are particularly interesting when talking about money attitudes and values. As a result, a class that uses Money Habitudes cards will often be part of a series of classes or be at least nominally connected to other classroom or counseling offerings. The JVS theme for its integrated series of classes is “Rejuvenate your Job Search.”
4. Low-cost or free classes: Many organizations that use Money Habitudes provide classes at no-cost or low-cost. The classes that JVS is providing are $15.
5. Diverse audience: Some career counseling organizations have a specific target audience, but others do not. One of the benefits of Money Habitudes is that it works well with a diverse audience. In this case, it may be a class that’s composed of highly educated former executives as well as low-to-moderate income (LMI) students. Used like a game, it’s something everyone can enjoy and get value from. Also, organizations that focus mostly on financial education, asset building, marriage and relationships, or life skills use Money Habitudes as a way to offer a fun career workshop.
6. Staff training and personal development: As the posting notes, career counselors can use the tool to work with clients, but they can also get personal understanding and self-awareness from it themselves. That makes it a fun class activity for the students and the teacher. However, being aware of how you relate to money and how your clients relate to money – which may be very different – helps you as a coach better relate to a client and understand him or her. That can make for a better interaction, especially in one-on-one counseling, in terms of how you give advice and how you listen and react to a client.

As a training tool, organizations typically purchase a set of durable Money Habitudes cards and use them over and over. The tool is frequently used in a number of programs or classes within the same organization. There is no license fee to use the tool in a workshop. Additional information for coaches, counselors and facilitators can be found in The Guide for Professionals.

Improve Your Relationship with Money

Women, Work and Community will offer a free workshop, “Improve Your Relationship with Money,” on Saturday, January 21 from 11 – 1:30 at the Belfast Free Library. The class is open to adults of all ages and backgrounds.

Managing your money is more than just numbers. Becoming comfortable with your money management skills includes your habits and attitudes–your “Money Habitudes.” Some of those Habitudes work well for you and others perhaps interfere with a positive relationship with money.

We’ll use the “Money Habitudes” cards as a starting point for thinking about our money and how we can become more comfortable with managing it.

 Registration by January 19 is encouraged as this class is filling up.

 On Saturday, January 28 from 11:00 to 1:30, the workshop, “Finding Your Money Power Payment” will be offered. This workshop will focus on tips for finding more money in your budget to save for your goals and reduce debt.

Additional information at the Women, Work and Community notes:

Resolutions are frequently not enough to help us improve our money management behaviors. Sometimes, our money habits and attitudes — our “Habitudes” — get in the way. During this fun and enlightening workshop we will use Money Habitudes cards developed by Syble Solomon to help you understand your money behaviors and develop some new ways of thinking and managing your money. We will create a safe and non-threatening workshop environment.

This workshop is supported in part by a grant from the FINRA Investor Education Foundation [Smart investing@your library grants, Financial Education in Your Community grants], through a partnership with United Way Worldwide.

How is this workshop emblematic of other community financial education classes that use Money Habitudes cards?

1. Importance of relationships. As the announcement notes, “Managing your money is more than just numbers. Becoming comfortable with your money management skills includes your habits and attitudes … We’ll use the “Money Habitudes” cards as a starting point for thinking about our money and how we can become more comfortable with managing it.” This is a in line with a wider recognition within the financial education world that explains the popularity of behavioral economics and integration of money psychology: when working with one’s finances, there is a strong emotional component and as with any behavior change, it greatly helps people to understand why they do what they do with money  in addition to just inputting receipts and doing a budget for example. Money Habitudes is often used as a crossover tool between financial literacy programs and those dealing with relationships and careers; this includes many marriage prep courses, for example.
2. Non-threatening activity, ice breaker. A hallmark of Money Habitudes classes and counseling sessions is that they are non-threatening and non-judgmental. As a result, Money Habitudes is often used as a financial ice breaker activity at the beginning of a class to put people at ease, or a standalone class with the cards is the first in a series of classes that build on understanding one’s money personality. Later classes in a series might be on budgeting, buying a house, couples communication skills, etc. The announcement declares the class to be fun, non-threatening and safe; all typical words and goals for teachers using Money Habitudes, be it with adults, young adults or teens.
3. Part of a series. Here, the “Improve Your Relationship with Money” class does not appear to be explicitly part of a series of other classes (like a four-week series with one class a week). However, there is a pitch at the end that notes that there is a financial course the following  week on “Finding Your Money Power Payment” that will focus on “tips for finding more money in your budget to save for your goals and reduce debt.” The center also lists a number of other upcoming entrepreneurship, leadership and financial education classes on its web site. Because it’s fun and non-threatening, Money Habitudes can make a longer series of personal finance or relationship classes more approachable, getting people in the door in a way that offering a “budgeting class” does not. However, many participants will then seek out other classes afterwards, because they found the material interesting and helpful and because it showed them areas where they would benefit from help such as budgeting, investing, foreclosure prevention, creating a savings plan, going from unbanked or underbanked to banked, etc. To this end, Money Habitudes is often used as a fun self-awareness introduction to budgeting classes and credit repair classes; this includes Dave Ramsey’s budgeting classes (Financial Peace University).
4. Used in classes that span age, income, education. The listing says it is “open to adults of all ages and backgrounds.” While this may be more like legalese in this context, the reality is that many community programs serve a diverse population. As a financial personality test and conversations tarter about money, Money Habitudes has broad appeal and is used across the age, income and education spectrum (although note that there are different versions for different ages: adult, young adult, teen and a Spanish version too). This financial education bankruptcy class case study is a good example of how a diverse audience can use the teaching tool and find value in it – while also making for a more enjoyable class to teach.
5. Class time. This foundational financial education class in Maine is 2.5 hours. This is a bit longer than the majority of financial courses using Money Habitudes cards, but certainly within a normal time frame. Most financial literacy classes are probably 1-2 hours and use of the cards typically varies between 5 minutes and 2 hours. (It takes about 15 minutes as a minimum to do the basic Money Habitudes Solitaire card sort activity.) On the very short side of just having a few minutes, the cards can be used like values flash cards; each statement card provides a starting point point for people to talk about their money attitudes and habits. Classes with more time allow students to dive more into their money personality results and understand and apply the money type messages they reveal about themselves. It also affords more time for group work, group discussion and individual goal setting and the like. (The Guide for Professionals provides more suggestions and information for those teaching and facilitating classes using Money Habitudes cards; facilitators may also glean ideas from the financial education case studies we’ve posted. And if you have a good example to share with others in financial education, therapy, marriage counseling, financial planning, career counseling, etc., let us know.)
6. Community agency. Although the Money Habitudes cards are used in many ways by many different organizations and professionals, a great preponderance of our innovative financial education tools are used by non-profit community agencies. Many of these are asset building organizations, even if they don’t brand themselves as an “asset building” agency.
• In this case, the community organization is the Maine Centers for Women, Work and Community. Its mission is very similar to many other financial education organizations that use Money Habitudes: We help Maine women succeed in their workplace, business and community. We are committed to improving the economic lives of Maine women and their families. We meet women “where they are” and provide them with support, guidance, and the tools they need to take the next steps toward a more promising future. We support women in their efforts to secure a more promising future through access to education, jobs that pay a living wage, self-employment, money management, and civic leadership.
• Like many other nonprofits that use Money Habitudes as a teaching tool, the Maine Centers for Women, Work and Community provides both classes and one-on-one counseling. Money Habitudes is used in both settings, as well as at home with individuals and couples, as a support group activity, as a staff training or team building activity, and as a giveaway to start dialogue.
• Also like other asset building or financial education organizations, the Maine Centers for Women, Work and Community has a multi-faceted offering. This includes individual assistance and classes in: Building Careers, Starting Businesses, Managing Money, Becoming Leaders. While the center may not be actively using Money Habitudes in all of those areas, the cards are indeed used in classes and counseling for jobs and careers; entrepreneurship, microfinance and microlending; managing money, budgeting, credit counseling, homebuying, investing, etc.; leadership training, life skills and life coaching and personal development.
• The center has a focus on women. One of the strengths of Money Habitudes is that it is really well received by men and women (the hands-on nature and card game format is especially well received by men who are often not as willing to share their feelings). While the cards are used by both genders, they are employed in a number of women’s programs and in domestic abuse and violence shelters. Syble Solomon, the creator of Money Habitudes produces the Inspired Savings series of motivational money messages, specifically for women and she has spoken for a number of women’s groups.
• The center offers a Family Development Account program. Many organizations that use Money Habitudes offer similar programs, as part of the asset building ladder. Many of these are matched savings Individual Development Account (IDA) programs. Some are local, independent microloans or micro-enterprise grants. Many asset building organizations (such as the Maryland CASH Campaign) use Money Habitudes in concert with free EITC tax preparation programs and cash coaching. Other agencies work to both improve clients’ finances with classes and counseling while also checking for benefits like TANF, SSI, SNAP, WIC, etc.
• The Maine Centers for Women, Work and Community is part of the University of Maine at Augusta. Many community users of Money Habitudes are associated with universities, especially those with Cooperative Extension partnerships.
• Here, the class and the use of the cards is supported in part by a grant from the FINRA Investor Education Foundation, through a partnership with United Way Worldwide. Many organizations write in Money Habitudes to grants for modules on money management and financial education, knowing that they can reuse the durable money cards over and over – and use them in a variety of different programs and classes. Also, many grants restrict training dollars, so the easy-to-learn and easy-to-teach activity is well suited to such grants. Outside of straight financial education, many organizations have purchased Money Habitudes through the national Healthy Marriage grant program as well as the Responsible Fatherhood initiative, both offered through the Administration for Children and Families. Outside of this grant, local United Way offices use the Money Habitudes materials in money coaching settings, classes and for staff development, especially with sensitivity training and financial self-awareness trainings for staff and volunteers, notably community VITA volunteers.

Note that there is not a license fee to use Money Habitudes or to offer classes using Money Habitudes. The tool is meant to be used like a game and unlike other inventories doesn’t require special permission or training to use it in classes. However, additional in-depth training is available if you’re interested, especially as a train-the-trainer session.

What’s Causing Stress in America?

The APA stress report finds sources of stress are:

1. money stress (75 percent)
2. work stress (70 percent)
3. economic stress (67 percent)
4. stress from relationships (58 percent)
5. family responsibilities stress (57 percent)
6. family health problems stress (53 percent)
7. personal health concerns stress (53 percent)
8. job stability stress (49 percent)
9. stress from housing costs (49 percent)
10. personal safety stress (32 percent)

Interestingly, almost all of the top 10 stressors in America relate to money. Concern about money plays a related role with work stress and economic worries. When it comes to couples’ problems, the number one issue about which couples fight is money. Those fights result in marriage money problems. It may mean marriage counseling, separation or divorce.

Of course, a bad economy compounds the overlap between work and relationships. For example, being laid off has major effects for a relationship, be it a marriage, dating or how one relates to parents or kids. Housing costs (and home foreclosure) are certainly part of the picture when it comes to money stress. And, of course, money and medical bills are probably a factor in the stressors that deal with health concerns. Health issues are, after all, a huge cause of financial hardship, bankruptcy and divorce.

The concern about money is a consistent worry across generations. The study found that money was the top cause of stress for the following cohorts:

Millennials – 80 percent
Gen X – 77 percent
Boomers – 77 percent

Ways to overcome stress; Money Habitudes and money stress

1. Financial understanding and self-awareness: Stress comes from the unknown, uncertainty. Why are we in debt? How can I make more money? How can I save more? Why are we broke? As a sort of money personality test, Money Habitudes helps people understand their money habits and attitudes. It helps people see in an easy, nonjudgmental way how they spend and save money. It also shows: why they spend the way they do, with whom they spend in ways that make them feel good, when they spend or save in ways that will help their finances, and where they are that changes the way they spend, save, invest, go into debt, give to others, etc. Do you spend smartly when you’re with your sister but poorly when you go to the mall with your friends? Do you save responsibly all year only to go into debt giving gifts during the holidays?
2. Money talk: Not being able to talk about money causes stress. That’s especially true if you share finances with a spouse or partner and make joint financial decisions. Not being able to communicate about money can translate to other relationship issues: a lack of trust, lack of connection, etc. As an ice breaker and conversation starter, Money Habitudes cards provide a healthy framework to talk about money. It’s the reason that it’s used by couples at home and by professional therapists in marriage counseling and conflict resolution sessions. People often say the conversation sparked by using the interactive cards was the best they’d ever had about their money and personal finances. It may not be the only step, but it is a good first step when it comes to relationship money problems. It also helps people frame their money issues, making it easier to talk with a professional, such as a therapist, financial educator, credit counselor or financial planner.
3. Sharing and talking about money: In addition to just talking about money, the couples game, helps couples share money secrets. It’s awkward, uncommon and hard to, out of the blue, say, “I have debt,” or “My credit score is bad.” It becomes easier to talk about financial issues when they’re in context and there’s an easy way to tell a story. Of course, it becomes harder – and more stressful – to reveal money secrets as time goes by. Couples who get married without asking each other about their finances or sharing how much they owe and what they own may learn about their partner’s bad credit score or bankruptcy, outstanding student loans, etc. only when it’s time to buy a house or purchase a car. Living with that money secret leads to money stress. That’s even more true when hiding the truth about money in a relationship ignites money fights.
4. Feeling better: Part of what causes stress is feeling incapable of dealing with the issues at hand. It’s not uncommon for someone to think “I’m bad with money,” or even, “I’m stupid with money.” However, part of the methodology behind Money Habitudes is to show people not just their money challenges but also their money strengths – regardless of what money personality type (or combination) they are. For example, one of the most common insights that we see is someone with a dominant “Selfless” personality who feels stupid and incompetent when it comes to managing finances but then sees that he or she is actually making smart decisions in terms of spending and saving money. This type is not spending frivolously is may actually be saving, but tends to give to others; it may be a co-worker going through a divorce, or a brother who always needs rent money. There’s just a weak spot in understanding how and when to say “no” to others’ requests for money.

There are a number of money personality types and money psychology personality tests that exist. All speak to the psychology of money, recognizing that our spending and saving often has a habits, attitudes, emotions and values component, rather than simply a logical and rational one. Money is an emotional topic; even professional financial managers, financial planners and fund managers can be swayed by emotion when logic should rule. In fact, increasing attention between money psychology and emotion has spurred much work in behavioral economics and has resulted in financial therapy.

Why money type matters

As with any personality test and assessment tool, the objective is self-awareness, personal understanding or a sense of emotional intelligence. That’s true for thoughts and behavior. A personality assessment lets us look at ourselves objectively. It helps us understand what we like and don’t like, what we’re good at and what our challenges are. A common psychological test, many people take the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Test. As the Myers & Briggs Foundations states:

The purpose of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) personality inventory is to make the theory of psychological types described by C. G. Jung understandable and useful in people’s lives. The essence of the theory is that much seemingly random variation in the behavior is actually quite orderly and consistent, being due to basic differences in the ways individuals prefer to use their perception and judgment.

Financial personality assessments are done for much the same reason. People use results from the Money Habitudes inventory activity in a great variety of ways. The money type activity may be done at home or with a professional like a marriage counselor, financial therapist, financial planner, coach or financial educator. It may be for financial planning, estate planning and investing (e.g., What is my investing type?). It may be for personal money management, budgeting and asset building. It may be for interpersonal development, relationships and communication skills. It may be for one’s career, job and workplace dynamics. It may be for entrepreneurship.

How Money Habitudes compares to other money personality tests

There are a number of similarities between money psychology personality scales, considering similar research and thought. Very simple money tests tend to divide the world only into “spenders and savers.” (Some of those might be available as a free online personality test.) While there may be some truth in this classic divide, it misses a level of depth and nuance that really seem to help people derive value from the exercise. After all, if you’re a “saver” are you always a saver? What about when it comes to your kids or buying gifts for the holidays or entertaining when the in-laws are in town? Some savers throw financial caution to the wind once they’re on vacation. Just looking at the Myers-Briggs test, it’s hard to think that only classifying people as introverts or extroverts tells a full picture (versus being an INTJ, INTJ or INFP).

Most money type quizzes use 4-10 personality type categories. We use 6 types in Money Habitudes:

• Targeted Goals
• Security
• Selfless
• Free Spirit
• Spontaneous
• Status

(Note that the above money personality categories are for adults. There are slightly different versions of the cards for adults, young adults and teens. They are also available in Spanish.)

Although they don’t correlate perfectly to other personality tests, professionals who have used various financial personality measures are able to easily translate between different money personality assessments. Certainly, there are other money type assessments that are quite good and helpful.

One major difference is how people use Money Habitudes versus other money type assessments. Money Habitudes looks and feels like a card game. The card sorting process is hands-on and interactive. Like a game, it’s fun and gets people involved in a kinesthetic way, rather just reading a book or filling in forms. (Instead of fill-in-the bubble pages, the quiz questions are on playing cards. Often the questions cause people to laugh and smile, which is rare when people talk about money!) It also feels less like a stressful IQ intelligence test (or aptitude test) than other personality assessments like the Myers-Briggs.

As a game, it lends itself to working with groups and classes and is often used in workshops and seminars – in addition to coaching and counseling sessions with individuals or couples. Versus a paper test or online quiz, it may be harder to administer to very large groups, but we’ve still had people use the cards with groups larger than 100. Most classes that use the cards average 10-30 people.

To better understand the psychology of money, with Money Habitudes, people see themselves as a combination of different money personality types. People may have all six Habitude types, or may have five, four, etc. It’s not as simple as saying “I’m a spender,” or “I’m a saver.” Of course, each type has its own strengths and challenges. People come to see how the relative force each type – and its pros and cons – can manifest itself in their life, finances, relationship, business or career.

Money Habitudes also aspires to be nonjudgmental and non-threatening. This is crucial when it comes to talking about money. One of the reasons people dislike discussing money is that they often feel that they are being judged. They may perceive that someone is saying they are spending stupidly or being irresponsible. Money Habitudes endeavors to point out that everyone has habits and attitudes about money that are positive; very few of us have aspects that we couldn’t improve. They key with Money Habitudes is finding a psychology of money benchmark for where you are and why you behave the way you do. Then it lets you decide if that combination of traits is the right balance for you, your life and your goals. In many cases, students and clients have their own breakthrough AHA! moment after doing the activity. They then take the initiative to make changes themselves. That’s a very different from a counselor, teacher or advisor saying, “You’re doing it wrong. You have to change. Do what I say!”

Money Habitudes was designed to be understood by typical home users with no formal training in psychology or finance. However, it was also designed so that those with years of education and experience can get great value from the results. The personality test results are in the form of a simple card-sort layout that’s very colorful, visual and easy to understand at a glance. The money psychology personality profile doesn’t require a long print-out with complicated charts and graphs only understood by a PhD.

As such, the activity and the results can be employed as a quick exercise of 15 minutes or can be longer and the resultant analysis and discussion can last for hours. The Money Habitudes Professional Guide provides about 100 pages of additional information, suggestions, analysis and interpretation beyond the most basic (but effective) 8 yellow interpretation cards in each deck of Money Habitudes. Also, occasional all-day professional training seminars teach practitioners (such as marriage counselors, financial therapists, financial planners or social workers) how to use the cards and get value from the tool in more advanced and sophisticated ways. Although the cards may look unprepossessing, there are many layers to what one can do and learn with them.

Money Habitudes is not a free personality test. However, the materials can be reused over and over, greatly reducing the cost per participant or per use. Many organizations that use the cards do so every week or every month – and the materials often begin to find their way into multiple programs or offerings. An asset building organization may, for example, use the same deck of cards in a weekly budgeting class, one-on-one housing counseling, job readiness classes, entrepreneurship seminars or as the basis for a self-awareness training for VITA volunteers. It may not make the testing process free, but being able to reuse the materials quickly amortizes the cost of a deck of Money Habitudes cards to less than a dollar per participant.

Finally, Money Habitudes isn’t just a personality test. It’s also meant to be a conversation starter and “get to know you” activity. Whether it’s at home, with family or when working with clients or students, each of the statement cards can start an insightful conversation. It may be how one defines success, what family of origin influences one had, or what one wishes one had to be happier. In any case, the assessment part of Money Habitudes is part of a bigger experience where people often learn about their money personality but also learn to feel more comfortable talking about money.

For comparison, a few other money personality tests net the following types:

Eight Financial Archetypes (Brent Kessel, Abacus Portfolios, It’s Not About the Money)

1. The Guardian is always alert and careful.
2. The Pleasure Seeker prioritizes pleasure and enjoyment in the here and now.
3. The Idealist places the greatest value on creativity, compassion, social justice or spiritual growth.
4. The Saver seeks security and abundance by accumulating more financial assets.
5. The Star spends, invests or gives away money to be recognized, feel hip or classy and increase self-esteem.
6.  The Innocent avoids paying significant attention to money, believing (or hoping) that life will work out for the best.
7. The Caretaker gives and lends money to express
8. The Empire Builder thrives on power and innovation to create something of enduring value.

Money Coaching Institute (Deborah Price)

1. Innocent – Takes the ostrich approach to money, doesn’t want to see what’s going on. Would rather not to be responsible for financial decisions or money management. Seeks safety and security and longs to be rescued.
2. Victim – Often blame their financial situation on external factors. May have been abused, betrayed or have suffered some great loss. Tends to live in the past. Often has a self-fulfilling prophecy.
3. Warrior – Take charge, goal oriented. Successful in business, focused, decisive & in control. Discerning, powerful, driven, and financially self-actuated.
4. Martyr – Busy taking care of others’ needs, but often neglect their own. Tend to be self-sacrificing and long-suffering. May be financially generous but can have strings attached. Can have boundary issues. Needs to learn to receive.
5. Fool – Looking for a windfall and tends to take financial shortcuts. Relatively fearless, often impulsive and can get caught up in the enthusiasm of the moment. May lack discipline, be restless or overly generous. Need to develop patience and to slow down their decision-making process.
6. Creator/Artist – Often on a spiritual or artistic path. Finds the material world difficult to live in. Can be financially detached or have a conflicted love/hate relationship with money.
7. Tyrant – Can use money to manipulate and control people, events and circumstances. May not feel at peace with themselves…money makes them feel safe. Their greatest fear is loss of control.
8. Magician – The ideal money type. Knows how to transform and manifest their financial reality. Willing to claim their own power. Armed with the knowledge of the past, they have made peace with their personal history and have transformed their lives. They feel secure and know all their needs will always be met.

Moneyharmony Gems Money Personality Types (Olivia Mellan)

(Named for the imbalances in each, not for their strengths.)

1. Hoarder
2. Spender (Binger: combination hoarder-spender). (Kinds of Overspenders: The Money is Love Spender, The Blue Light Spender, The Esteem Spender, The Overboard Spender, The Spin-of-the-Wheel Spender,  The “I’ll Show You” Spender)
3. Money Worrier
4. Money Avoider
5. Money Monk
6. Money Amasser
7. Risk-taker
8. Risk-avoider
9. Money Merger
10. Money Separatist

There are a lot of reasons for divorce. However, studies show the most common reason why a husband and wife fight, go to marriage counseling and end a marriage is money. According to PayPal’s third annual “Can’t Buy Me Love” survey, the top reasons why couples fight are:

1. Money is the number one cause of arguments among American couples (31 percent)
2. Household chores (28 percent)
3. In-laws (22 percent)
4. Sex (15 percent)

Research from Utah State University shows that arguments about finances are the best indicator of divorce.

Of course, the same reasons that couples look for a divorce lawyer are the same reasons why a husband and wife seek out a therapist for marriage counseling too.

Why do couples fight about money?

Money is an issue that’s related to many parts of a relationship. It’s an indicator and a proxy for big issues. Money, on its own (how much is in the bank, how much you make, what you spend, etc.), is rarely why couples fight in actuality.

Instead, how a husband and wife relate to each other about money shows how they connect about other topics. For example, fights about money might really be about: freedom, security, esteem, generosity, power, success, self-worth, independence, status, acceptance, confidence, love, or trust.

Of course, there may be real, valid reasons why couples disagree about money and why they have issues with love, power, security, trust, etc. Two people might really define success differently. What is love? How to trust? Even people who grow up in similar environments – raised in the same town by parents of the same socioeconomic class, the same religion, etc. – there can be big differences in how one answers. Often those issues are hard to pinpoint and discuss. It can even be hard when couples attend marriage prep classes.

Before marriage, couples tend to focus on what they have in common. They don’t always look at where they differ. Why look for trouble? (To that end, many couples neglect to mention how much debt they have, or that they have a bad credit score before getting married. Later, when they go to buy a house or finance a car, the truth comes out and it leads to trust issues.)

And money is hard to talk about! Couples and therapists say that it’s harder to talk about money than it is to talk about sex! If there is no reason to talk about money, frequently couples avoid it. When personal finances do come up, it’s often not at a good time. When the credit card bill comes and you’re angry that your husband or wife has spent money on something “stupid” or “unnecessary” it’s a bad time to have a calm, constructive conversation about money. A little fight can lead to a divorce lawyer.

Finally, disagreements about money can be misunderstandings. But, because couples don’t want to create trouble, they won’t talk about the problem. If a couple stops going on dates, the wife might think, “My husband doesn’t love me anymore!” (And maybe even “he hates me” and “he wants a divorce!”) However, oblivious to the signs he’s sending, the well-intentioned but frugal husband thinks, “Because we have a mortgage and two kids in college, it would be irresponsible to go out for dinner.” Love isn’t necessarily the issue here – but by ignoring the issue and assuming one understands, a good marriage can become a bad marriage!

What to do? How to stop fighting about money?

As with any marriage problem, talking about it can be a good first step. Although money can be difficult conversation topic, it is tangible. It’s somewhat easier to look at, for example, how you and your husband or wife spend money and what bills you’ve fought about versus trying to come up with examples of how you disagree about more intangible issues like trust and love.

But if you’re going to talk about money – especially without a therapist – it’s important to do it the right way. For starters, do it when you’re calm. Right after opening the credit card bill and fuming about is not a good time!

Do it yourself at home or with a therapist in marriage counseling …

Money Habitudes cards help couples talk about money in a way that’s calm, constructive … and even fun. As a conversation starter, they help couples talk about money. As a self assessment, they help you understand your own money personality and the reasons why you and your husband or wife do what you do with money and why you feel they way you do.

The hands-on card-game format makes the couples activity feel like a game instead of a test. Couples and therapists say it’s especially welcome for guys who – at least stereotypically find it more difficult to talk and share their feelings – because it feels like a familiar social activity and is concrete and nonjudgmental.

Sometimes couples do the activity and in a few minutes and have a major breakthrough. (Couples often say that it’s the best conversation they’ve ever had about money – even couples who have been married for decades!) In some cases, it’s a way to clarify a misunderstanding or help one spouse see the other’s perspective or be understood in a nonjudgmental way. Sometimes it helps couples understand the real issues. That might lead to seeing a therapist for marriage counseling, but at least couples then have a better understanding of what the issue is.

Although the cards are used and trusted by professional therapists (as well as marriage mentors and marriage sponsor couples), they were designed to be easy enough for couples to use – and get results from – on their own.

When therapists use Money Habitudes in marriage counseling (or premarital counseling), they bring years of experience and education to the table. With the Money Habitudes results, they can offer additional, specialized advice and communications strategies beyond those provided by the Money Habitudes cards and guides.

Using Money Habitudes

Doing the Money Habitudes activity takes about 15 minutes, plus time to interpret and talk about results. That can be a few minutes, but many times it provides hours of good conversation and interesting insights. It’s best if both people in a couple have their own deck of cards. Use two decks per couple and dot he activity together, sorting the statement cards at the same time and then moving to the interpretation stage at the time as well.

Impact Award

Money Habitudes received the Smart Marriages Impact Award from the prestigious Coalition for Marriage, Family and Couples Education for its role in helping couples with money issues. When presenting the award, Diane Sollee, MSW, founder and director of CMFCE said, “Money is the number one cause of conflict in marriages—even good, solid marriages. Money Habitudes is a great tool and innovative way to help couples address their money issues. The tool is used by couples on their own, by therapists, social workers and in numerous faith-based marriage programs, such as church marriage retreats. Past recipients of Impact Awards – and good resources for couples – have included:

• Barbara Dafoe Whitehead, PhD – The Divorce Culture
• Barry McCarthy – Sexual Styles, Marital Sex As It Ought To Be
• Bernard Guerney, Jr, PhD – Relationship Enhancement Program
• Beyond Affairs Network (BAN) surviving infidelity
• Bill Coffin, MEd – Special Assistant for Marriage Education
• Bill Doherty, PhD
• David and Claudia Arp – 10 Great Dates
• David Olson, PhD – PREPARE ENRICH
• David Popenoe, PhD
• Dennis Stoica
• Diann Dawson, JD, MSW – African American Healthy Marriage Initiative
• Fireproof
• Frank Fincham, PhD
• Frank Pittman, MD
• Gary Chapman, PhD – Love Languages
• George Doub, MDiv – Family Wellness Program
• Harville Hendrix, PhD and Helen LaKelly Hunt, PhD – IMAGO
• Howard Markman, PhD and Scott Stanley, PhD – National Institute of Mental Health project
• Jerry Regier, Oklahoma Secretary of Health and Human Services
• John Gottman, PhD, author of Why Marriages Succeed or Fail;  The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work; The Marriage Clinic;The Relationship Cure
• John Gray, PhD – Mars and Venus
• John Van Epp, PhD – RAM model, Pick a Partner, Avoid Jerks
• Judith Wallerstein, PhD – Unexpected Legacy of Divorce
• Julie Baumgardner, MS, CFLE – First Things First
• Kay Hymowitz – Marriage and Caste InAmerica
• Kay Reed – School/Youth Marriage Education Movement
• Linda Waite, PhD – The Case for Marriage
• Lori Gordon, PhD – PAIRS Program
• Michele Weiner-Davis, MSW – Divorce Busters
• Mike and Harriet McManus – Community Marriage Policies, Marriage Savers Congregations and Mentor Couple Programs
• Miriam Grossman, MD
• Nicky & Sila Lee – The Marriage Course
• Nisa Muhammad – Black Marriage Day
• Pat Ennis, MSW – The Third Option
• Pat Love, EdD – Hot Monogamy and The Truth About Love
• Patty Howell, EdD – Heathy Marriage Series
• Paul Amato, PhD – Generation At Risk
• Retrouvaille
• Ron & Cathy Tijerina – RIDGE Project, Keeping FAITH (Families And Inmates Together in Harmony)
• Senator Steve Dille, Minnesota
• Sherod Miller, PhD – Couple Communication Program
• Stan Weed, PhD – Community Marriage Policies
• Steven Stosny, PhD
• Truett Cathy – Marriage CoMission and the Winshape Marriage Retreat Center
• Wade Horn, PhD, assistant secretary for Children and Families, Administration for Children and Families
• Willard Harley, Jr, PhD – His Needs and Her Needs

Both students and teachers know that it’s often hard to make money and finances interesting. And financial education classes suffer from low turnout or enrollment. Even when participants show up,  they come away thinking that the material was boring or at least not fun.

Of course it’s hard to make money fun and engaging. People find it hard to talk about money; it’s a true challenge to find fun ways to talk about finances – and to find ways that are also non-threatening. Conversation starter ice breakers are a key component of successful financial ed classes.

One of the reasons that financial education (or financial literacy, financial capability) classes are not fun is that they tend to jump right to hard skills like “How to do a budget” or “How to get out of debt.” But filling out budgeting worksheets and spreadsheets is not fun and makes for a dysfunctional icebreaker or introduction. It’s an immediate turnoff for students. It feels like a test. And it can be very frustrating for a variety of reasons:

1. People often don’t have a good idea when it comes to, “How much I spend?” Many cash purchases get lost and are not tracked. Even credit card and debit card bills don’t necessarily show you what you actually bought at the store: So you spent $54.97 at the grocery store – what items did you buy and did you really need them? It’s important to understand why you spent what you did — as well as when and with whom.
2. Many people still wonder “What is a budget?” so it means starting from scratch, which is slow and tedious for a teacher.
3. And then there’s a feeling of being judged: a fear that the facilitator or teacher will tell you that you’re not managing your money right or making bad choices with your spending plan.
4. It’s especially hard and uncomfortable to, as a conversation starter, ask a class of strangers, “How much money do you make?” which is often how budgets can be seen.

That’s not to say that a financial education curriculum should ignore budgets, but only that diving right into the meat of financial education misses the behavioral or psychological aspect of how to start working with people with money and providing the financial help they need.

How to start a conversation about money?

Certainly there are other icebreakers and games that can be used in financial education, but Money Habitudes is used for a variety of reasons with great success with a number of different audiences (from asset building to financial planning to HUD housing counseling). Why?

• They’re easy to teach, easy to use and easy to interpret.
• They’re interactive, hands-on and fun. Like a game, they make for a good alternative to lectures, worksheets, and PowerPoint. They kick off a workshop and make for a fun class.
• Make workshops or classes related to the sensitive topic of money less threatening and more enjoyable.
• Appeal to different learning styles – and work across the age, income and education spectrum because of simple statements, wording and basic concepts with broad implications. High income and high education and low income and low education groups both use the tool.
• Get beyond budgets to begin important conversations about the interaction between lifestyle, values and finances.
• Can be reused and work in a variety of programs.
• Work with men and women.
• Can be used in adult classes and classes for teens and young adults. (Available in Spanish too.)

As an ice-breaker, Money Habitudes usually takes 15 minutes or so. (Financial educators say that the extra few minutes at the beginning of a workshop pay dividends later, even if less skills-based material is ultimately covered.) Ideally, each participant will have his or her own deck of cards to do the activity that feels like a card game. (Those materials can be reused.) By simply using the statements cards as conversation starter questions, it can be a quick icebreaker activity, although less powerful than doing the full sorting assessment process. (Each statement, Habitude interpretation card, and special discussion card can be viable conversation topics.) After developing a better understanding of their money personality or financial personality type, people enjoy later group activities and exercises more. In addition, later lessons (such as budgeting) tend to have more personal relevance. People also relax more when starting a difficult topic like money management with something fun and interesting that feels like a game.

Generally used as an individual activity, Money Habitudes can also be used as a group exercise and be used in team exercises. Generally, this is done by financial advisors or financial educators in a team building or sensitivity training context as opposed to with end-user clients or students.

Of course, Money Habitudes cards can be much more than an icebreaker and can be used in counseling and in classes that typically last for 30-90 minutes. It can also be paired or integrated with other curricula and programs such as those on investing, relationship communication skills, etc. (This might be programs like the FDIC’s Money Smart, Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University, or PREP.)

Marriage preparation classes vary by parish or diocese and, of course, each educator’s style is different. Marriage prep may be a weekend or last a few weeks. There are also online Catholic marriage prep classes such as those offered by CatholicMarriagePrepclass.com, the result of some great work by folks we’ve met at NACFLM, Smart Marriages and NARME: The Marriage Group LLC and Family Ministries Office, Archdiocese of Chicago.

There are a diversity of approaches, but most PreCana classes cover similar topics. Marriage prep classes now include modules on money, finances, financial planning, financial stewardship in addition to traditional topics like spirituality and theology. A large, but incomplete list of Catholic marriage prep topics includes:

Blended Families, Children, Christian Family Values, Christian Stewardship, Cohabitation, sex before marriage, Communication skills, Conditions for a valid marriage, Conflict management, Contraception, abortion, Convalidations, Diversity, Expectations, Extended Family, Family Origins, Families of Origin, Finances, Money, Financial Planning, Forgiveness and the Sacrament of Reconciliation, God’s Plan for Marriage (Genesis), Interfaith, Intimacy, Long-term commitment, Mature Couples, Natural Family Planning, Parenting, Past, Pornography, Potential problems, Prayer, Reproductive technologies, Sacrament of Matrimony, Sexuality, and Spirituality

In addition, as noted by catholicweddinghelp.com, many marriage preparation processes include:

• a pre-marriage relationship inventory such as FOCCUS (Facilitating Open Couple Communication, Understanding & Study), PREPARE (Premarital Preparation and Relationship Enhancement), PMI (Pre-Marital Inventory), RELATE, FACET (Foundations Applied Conversation and Education Tool)
• a weekend retreat for engaged couples such as Catholic Engaged Encounter
• marriage preparation sessions with a sponsor couple or marriage mentor couple
• marriage prep sessions with a priest, deacon, or lay minister

Where does money come into play? Generally, we see family life educators leading a basic session that combines habits, attitudes, values, Catholic theology and stewardship and family of origin as they relate to money. (Money touches on so many aspects of life.) In some cases, there is a small degree of financial planning or budgeting that happens too. But, generally, the goal seems to be to introduce engaged couples to financial concepts and how those will affect their marriage.

Just being able to talk about money is a big part of any relationship; people often learn to not talk about money versus learning how to talk about money. Money is a very charged and emotional topic. And even when people come from the same socio-economic and religious backgrounds, their habits, attitudes and values about money can be very different – leading to disagreements or hard feelings. Money questions might include:

• Should we send our kids to private school?
• How much should we spend on the wedding?
• How much will we spend on our house?

For people coming together from more different backgrounds, the differences in financial outlook can be even more different; imagine someone raised middle-class in Austin and someone who grew up in a poor family in Mexico. Talking about how one’s family saw and used money can be a very constructive, eye-opening exercise to get to know a partner with respect to money, but it’s also a great way to learn more about someone and their family. Of course, there are many Biblical lessons that tie in with money.

For example, how do you react to this quotation:

Luke 18:24-25: Jesus looking at him said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!  For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

Money Habitudes helps couples talk about money and it’s used by family life offices in a variety of ways. It may be used a teaching tool or game in a class or it may be used by engaged couples on their own at home. It’s also used in marriage counseling, lay counseling and in sessions with marriage mentors or marriage sponsors as a way to generate fun, non-threatening conversations about money. Although parishes use the cards with groups as large as 100, typically it’s used with smaller groups and the format stresses couples working together versus generating more group discussion. Best results come from using one deck per person (so two decks per couple), or the Couple’s Special. Participants may buy their own materials, or the durable cards may be used over and over, thereby decreasing program cost. Note that there are different cards for adults, young adults, Spanish-speaking adults and also for teens.

Individual Development Account (IDA) participants need strong credit histories to access affordable credit for their IDA asset purchase … Compared to national IDA participants, participants in this study had higher incomes, were more educated, and had a higher rate of being “banked.” … However, participants also utilize higher-cost alternative financial services, such as payday lenders and pawnshops, at similar rates to other low-income families and are beginning their IDA programs with low credit scores and poor credit history.

In terms of tracking, it’s no wonder the site is making the news right around New Year’s. After all, New Years resolutions generally involve behavior change in some form. Often it’s eating better, changing what one eats — or changing how much one spends, how one saves or what one spends money on. Just like dieting, it’s helpful to keep a diary of what one’s current habits are in order to know what can change and what that change would look like.

A tool that feels like a game, Money Habitudes also helps people better understand their habits and attitudes around money, giving people a more complete picture about their spending and saving. However, the powerful teaching tool also helps ask next-level questions like when, why and with whom? “Why did I spend that money?” “Who was I with when I bought that?” For example, cash tracking will probably show you that you spent an unexpected $15 on coffee last week. However, looking deeper might reveal that you spent that unnecessary money because you were in a rush, treated a friend or didn’t want to walk into a meeting without brand-name brew.

Of course, this is part of a larger trend where behavioral economics underscores the role of psychology in personal finance — as well as in high finance.. What often seem to be logical money decisions turn out to be driven by emotions like greed, fear, etc.

While Money Habitudes is not an investing tool, per se, it is often used by financial professionals. It is used both as a way for financial advisers to understand their own money personality or financial psychology but also affords an opportunity to talk about this difficult and elusive subject with clients — and do so in a fun, engaging way.

This aligns with what we see when people discover their money personality by doing Money Habitudes. Indeed, gift giving is not the same for everyone and many people don’t understand why they give the way they do until they do the quick card-sorting Money Habitudes activity. Of course, it’s also a good conversation starter between couples and families who give differently or don’t understand why a spouse or partner gives the way he or she does. As with any spending issue, differing expectations or a lack of communication about gift giving can cause discontent and mistrust in relationships.

What: Piloted Money Habitudes cards in psychology and finance classes

Who:

• Stephanie Licata, campus minister
• Mary Liz Fuhrman, guidance counselor and psychology teacher
• Students: primarily seniors

Why: In the psychology class the cards kicked off a unit on stress. In the finance class this activity was the introduction to personal finance.

How: Each class devoted an hour period to the cards.

• The exercise began with a brief introduction about the role of one’s habits and attitudes related to money relative to spending, saving and lifestyle and was tied into the current classroom topic.
• Each student was given a deck of Money Habitudes for Teens cards and took about ten minutes to read and sort the cards using the Money Habitudes Solitaire activity.
• Students then read the interpretation cards in each deck, with the teacher prompting them to identify which of the advantages and disadvantages were most applicable to them.
• Students were asked to choose a next-step from the list of suggestions specific to their most dominant Habitudes and then work on it over the following week. Total discussion lasted about 20 minutes.

Outcomes:

• Typical teen concerns came up quite naturally in the discussion including getting a car, saving for college, incurring student loans and the everyday costs of being a teenager, from dating to hanging out with friends. Since the prom was coming up, the financial choices related to that event were also discussed.
• Many students shared that they were going to talk to somebody in order to create a boundary, exchange information or let someone know how they’re feeling. Examples included comments such as: I’m going to tell my friends that I’m not going out on Friday night or I’m going to tell my friends that I’d love to go out on Friday night but if we can find something that’s less expensive, that would be great.
• On the written evaluations common themes emerged as many students noted:
• They saw themselves as too generous and at times felt that they were being taken advantage of.
• They realized they used money to curry favor with others or smooth over relationships.
• They were holding on to money so tightly that they were missing opportunities and sacrificing chances to have fun and enjoy being with their friends.

Observations:

Stephanie Licata:

• Using the cards was definitely centered on self-reflection and evaluation, but as certain commonalities arose within the group, they would relate to each other. There were people who had similar stories or similar points of view so it easily evolved into a conversation with the group.
• The kids were totally engaged the whole time. Teenagers want to talk about themselves if you let them so this is perfect for them.
• As teachers, we’re constantly being challenged to come up with activities like this that are interactive, that keep kids engaged and spark conversations. And the cards were so easy to work with it.

Mary Liz Furhman:

• The best part was that there was no right or wrong or a better category and everything had its pros and cons. It was really an assessment of where do you want to be. I liked that because they’re so used to wanting to be right, to have the right answer in school, to please someone else; this is less about that and more about their own situations.
• Money is such a form of stress – especially for these kids going off to college. They’re really going to be independent – they’re going to have to take care of their finances to some extent, many of them have jobs –so the Money Habitudes activity was really relevant to where they were in their lives.

While it’s true the wealthy are happier than the poor and wealthy countries are happier than poor ones, money actually buys little happiness, reports the University of California, Berkeley “Wellness Letter.” From a study in the “Journal of Consumer Psychology” here are some quick spending tips to achieve something close to money Nirvana:

1. Buy more experiences — vacations, classes, concert tickets — and fewer material goods.
2. Consider how purchases may affect day-to-day life, aiming for more “uplifts” and less hassles.
3. Buy many small pleasures rather than one large one, especially if money is limited.
4. Delay consumptions and prolong anticipations. Looking forward to an event is a source of pleasure, even if the event ends up being a letdown.
5. Spend money on others. Giving money or gifts strengthens social bonds and amplifies our own happiness.

The interesting tie that we see with people who look at their money personality using Money Habitudes is that while people with a lot of “Security” cards, for example, may feel very good about how they conserve and do without, they often realize that even a small change in their spending or how they budget can make them happier. Saving is good, but there’s something to be said for enjoying one’s money and using it to do what we want to do in life, be it travel, take care of our families, provide a meaningful hobby, etc.

An interesting quote in advance of the meeting that highlights the role of habits and attitudes in relation to serving underserved financial populations:

“During the Underbanked Experience, Exchange participants will put themselves in the shoes of the financially underserved consumer for a few hours, cashing checks, buying and using prepaid cards, transferring money, and seeking small value loan options. This exercise is especially well-timed, as this is a particularly important moment for banks and credit unions to contemplate how they can maximize the value of the products they offer to all of their customers,” said Karen Andres, Manager and Consultant, Advisory Services.