The 5 Money Personalities

The 5 Money Personalities, by Scott and Bethany Palmer is a financial eye opener to couples who are struggling with money issues.  "The hidden key to a healthy relationship is not just managing money but understanding how the other approaches money."

Knowing your Money Personality and your spouse's Money Personality as well as your secondary Money Personalities (which you probably didn't even know you had), can help you better understand what motivates you and your spouse when you make money decisions.  Your Secondary Money Personality keeps your Primary Money Personality in check and vice versa so even if those money personalities seem opposite to one another, they can still help you achieve balance in your life.  Even opposite money personalities between you and your spouse can work to your mutual advantage once you understand them.

With money being a major cause of strife in a marriage and a major cause for divorce, it makes sense (cents) to resolve the money problem before it becomes a source of strife or a reason for divorcing.  I would recommend this book to anyone in a relationship -- even if money does not seem to be an issue in your relationship at this time.  Communicating honestly about money and understanding how your spouse perceives money is -- well, it's gold, metaphorically speaking.

My husband and I talk about money often.  He's more of a spender and I'm more of a saver by nature, but we have a policy that we don't spend more than $50 without talking to each other first.  He also has memory problems due to the stroke so... that policy doesn't always work out the way we'd planned.  Overall, our money issues are more to do with our lack of money than with our money choices.  I know money can't buy happiness, but my husband and I both agree that if we had just a tad more of it, we'd have less stress...    

We still need to take the Money Personalities quiz to figure out where we're at exactly, but reading this book has given me a better understanding of what personalities there are and has given us a springboard to have an in depth discussion in the near future.

 Disclosure:  I received a complimentary copy of this book through Booksneeze in exchange for my honest review.

~ Chelsey ~