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There are 5 different financial personalities. Which one are you?
What does your money personality say about how you save (and spend) money?

- There are 5 major financial personality types: big spenders, savers, shoppers, debtors, and investors.
- Your money personality explains why you spend (and save) money the way you do in your day-to-day life.
- Knowing your money personality can help you understand how to make your money work for you, how to save more, and overall how to make smarter financial choices.
The 5 Money Personalities
Which money personality are you?
Image by Sira Anamwong on Shutterstock
As human beings, we have a lot of things in common. You don't have to look further than your family or friend group to know that how we spend (or save) money is not one of them. According to Investopedia, there are generally 5 money personality types, each with its own outlook on finances and way of doing things. Because of these differences, there is no real one-size-fits-all approach for making better financial decisions. Luckily the experts have shared tips for each of the unique group. But first, here are the classifications:
The Big Spender
Big Spenders like to make a statement with their purchases. They are not necessarily materialistic, but they do place a high value in their possessions, often wanting the latest and greatest releases - the latest smartphone, brand-name clothing, high-end vehicles.
Big Spenders are comfortable spending money and would take a big risk on investment if there was a chance it could make them more money. In fact, the act of spending the money that they work hard to earn is one of the things that they enjoy doing the most, even if it adds to their debt.
The Saver
Savers are the exact opposite of Big Spenders. Spending money makes them feel uncomfortable, they always shop for bargains, and they try to save money wherever they can. Savers may very rarely use credit cards to make purchases (or they may not even have a credit card).
Savers are often viewed as "cheap", but this isn't always the case. Savers are generally conservative with the things they purchase and don't tend to take big risks on investments just in case they don't pan out.
The Shopper
Shoppers often develop emotional ties to spending and receiving money. Their mood often dips and increases with their bank account. Shoppers find it particularly difficult to resist spending their money, even if they are buying items they don't need.
Shoppers aren't totally clueless about their debt, they may even be aware of the debt they are incurring but can't seem to separate their emotions from their spending habits.
The Debtor
Debtors don't seem to have emotional ties to their finances. They don't spend to feel better or feel low when they see a low bank balance, they simply don't spend much time thinking about their financial situation.
Debtors may be aware they have debt but may not keep track of what/who they owe. Debtors usually spend more than they earn on a consistent basis, meaning they are constantly at a level of debt even when they feel they are "cutting back."
The Investor
Investors are extremely future-orientated and are consciously aware of their finances, often taking advantage of investment opportunities after carefully weighing their options. Investors typically pay their bills on time, and their spending actions are driven by choices they have given quite a bit of thought to.
Any investment the Investor takes is with the end-goal in mind of earning more money, having better credit, or some other future goal.
How to save more money, according to your financial personality
With every money personality comes a different way you can save!
Photo by Myimagine on Shutterstock
Big Spenders: Some of the best things in life are (close to) free.
If you enjoy spending money and have an income that can support your spending habits, you may be missing out on some of the finer things in life by constantly chasing the finer things in life.
Consider some fun alternatives to the high-end purchases or splurges you typically make every month. Find a balance between a spending a lot on things you may not need and spending a little on something that will bring real quality and happiness into your life.
An example of this would be choosing to spend $2000 on a jacuzzi for your back yard instead of spending $300 per month visiting a spa where you use their jacuzzi. It doesn't necessarily have to be about saving money, but it can be about spending less where you can. You may be surprised just how much savings this will lead to in the future.
Savers: Consider quality of life compared to your savings accounts.
Savers are unlikely to fall into financial ruin because they are usually prepared for the unexpected. However, savers tend to put off purchasing things that can make their lives easier (or, in the long run, save them money) because of the price tag.
An example of this could be splurging on a new dishwasher, replacing the old one (which you had to run multiple times to get the dishes clean) with a new one that can save you money on your electric and water bills.
Shoppers: Attach emotion to saving money instead of spending it.
People who consider themselves as shoppers should consider trying to find a balance between the things they enjoy doing and things that will serve their best interests in the future.
Your emotions drive your spending habits, but they can also motivate you to save money.
Consider what emotional value you're able to place on saving money for the future. Saving money for your children's education, your dream home, a nice vacation with your spouse – use the positive emotions that come from these future goals to channel your energy into saving money instead of spending money.
Debtors: Make saving your money as simple as possible.
The tricky thing about having this financial personality is that, if you have a good income and steady work, you may be "fine" for a long time. Your debt may not catch up with you for years, but when it does, it can create a financial crisis. Not to mention any big unexpected expense can put you in financial crisis mode because you haven't prepared for it.
Debtors should consider simple actions that allow you to save money with very little effort, such as setting up automatic deposits from your spending account to your savings account on the day you get paid.
Investors: Balance the "right now" with the future.
Taking risks on big investments that will pay off in the future can be a rush. It's also a good way to make your money work for you instead of simply working for your money, as most others do. Investor personalities should consider how to best balance savings that you can use to make nice purchases today, with investments that lock you in for a certain number of years.
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How New York's largest hospital system is predicting COVID-19 spikes
Northwell Health is using insights from website traffic to forecast COVID-19 hospitalizations two weeks in the future.
- The machine-learning algorithm works by analyzing the online behavior of visitors to the Northwell Health website and comparing that data to future COVID-19 hospitalizations.
- The tool, which uses anonymized data, has so far predicted hospitalizations with an accuracy rate of 80 percent.
- Machine-learning tools are helping health-care professionals worldwide better constrain and treat COVID-19.
The value of forecasting
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTA0Njk2OC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMzM2NDQzOH0.rid9regiDaKczCCKBsu7wrHkNQ64Vz_XcOEZIzAhzgM/img.jpg?width=980" id="2bb93" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="31345afbdf2bd408fd3e9f31520c445a" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1546" data-height="1056" />Northwell emergency departments use the dashboard to monitor in real time.
Credit: Northwell Health
<p>One unique benefit of forecasting COVID-19 hospitalizations is that it allows health systems to better prepare, manage and allocate resources. For example, if the tool forecasted a surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations in two weeks, Northwell Health could begin:</p><ul><li>Making space for an influx of patients</li><li>Moving personal protective equipment to where it's most needed</li><li>Strategically allocating staff during the predicted surge</li><li>Increasing the number of tests offered to asymptomatic patients</li></ul><p>The health-care field is increasingly using machine learning. It's already helping doctors develop <a href="https://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/early/2020/06/09/dc19-1870" target="_blank">personalized care plans for diabetes patients</a>, improving cancer screening techniques, and enabling mental health professionals to better predict which patients are at <a href="https://healthitanalytics.com/news/ehr-data-fuels-accurate-predictive-analytics-for-suicide-risk" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">elevated risk of suicide</a>, to name a few applications.</p><p>Health systems around the world have already begun exploring how <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7315944/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">machine learning can help battle the pandemic</a>, including better COVID-19 screening, diagnosis, contact tracing, and drug and vaccine development.</p><p>Cruzen said these kinds of tools represent a shift in how health systems can tackle a wide variety of problems.</p><p>"Health care has always used the past to predict the future, but not in this mathematical way," Cruzen said. "I think [Northwell Health's new predictive tool] really is a great first example of how we should be attacking a lot of things as we go forward."</p>Making machine-learning tools openly accessible
<p>Northwell Health has made its predictive tool <a href="https://github.com/northwell-health/covid-web-data-predictor" target="_blank">available for free</a> to any health system that wishes to utilize it.</p><p>"COVID is everybody's problem, and I think developing tools that can be used to help others is sort of why people go into health care," Dr. Cruzen said. "It was really consistent with our mission."</p><p>Open collaboration is something the world's governments and health systems should be striving for during the pandemic, said Michael Dowling, Northwell Health's president and CEO.</p><p>"Whenever you develop anything and somebody else gets it, they improve it and they continue to make it better," Dowling said. "As a country, we lack data. I believe very, very strongly that we should have been and should be now working with other countries, including China, including the European Union, including England and others to figure out how to develop a health surveillance system so you can anticipate way in advance when these things are going to occur."</p><p>In all, Northwell Health has treated more than 112,000 COVID patients. During the pandemic, Dowling said he's seen an outpouring of goodwill, collaboration, and sacrifice from the community and the tens of thousands of staff who work across Northwell.</p><p>"COVID has changed our perspective on everything—and not just those of us in health care, because it has disrupted everybody's life," Dowling said. "It has demonstrated the value of community, how we help one another."</p>Octopus-like creatures inhabit Jupiter’s moon, claims space scientist
A leading British space scientist thinks there is life under the ice sheets of Europa.
Jupiter's moon Europa has a huge ocean beneath its sheets of ice.
- A British scientist named Professor Monica Grady recently came out in support of extraterrestrial life on Europa.
- Europa, the sixth largest moon in the solar system, may have favorable conditions for life under its miles of ice.
- The moon is one of Jupiter's 79.
Neil deGrasse Tyson wants to go ice fishing on Europa
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-media_id="GLGsRX7e" data-player_id="FvQKszTI" data-rm-shortcode-id="f4790eb8f0515e036b24c4195299df28"> <div id="botr_GLGsRX7e_FvQKszTI_div" class="jwplayer-media" data-jwplayer-video-src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/GLGsRX7e-FvQKszTI.js"> <img src="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/thumbs/GLGsRX7e-1920.jpg" class="jwplayer-media-preview" /> </div> <script src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/GLGsRX7e-FvQKszTI.js"></script> </div>Water Vapor Above Europa’s Surface Deteced for First Time
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Why large groups of people often come to the same conclusions
Study confirms the existence of a special kind of groupthink in large groups.
- Large groups of people everywhere tend to come to the same conclusions.
- In small groups, there's a much wider diversity of ideas.
- The mechanics of a large group make some ideas practically inevitable.
The grouping game
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTQ1NDE2Ni9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMjI2MzA4OX0.RLrswIWbuEzHNqsw0F7EUrp9jPn7OulLPqCxcZT11ik/img.jpg?width=980" id="159b8" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0feb15d2d7dde144c710c2f4f1e5350c" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="2767" data-height="382" />Some of the shapes used in the experiment
Credit: Guilbeault, et al./University of Pennsylvania
<p>The researchers tested their theory with 1,480 people playing an online "Grouping Game" via Amazon's Mechanical Turk platform. The individuals were paired with another participant or made a member of a group of 6, 8, 24, or 50 people. Each pair and group were tasked with categorizing the symbols shown above, and they could see each other's answers.</p><p>The small groups came up with wildly divergent categories—the entire experiment produced nearly 5,000 category suggestions—while the larger groups came up with categorization systems that were virtually identical to each other.</p><p><a href="https://www.asc.upenn.edu/news-events/news/why-independent-cultures-think-alike-its-not-in-the-brain" target="_blank">Says Centol</a>a, "Even though we predicted it, I was nevertheless stunned to see it really happen. This result challenges many long-held ideas about culture and how it forms."</p><p>Nor was this unanimity a matter of having teamed-up like-minded individuals. "If I assign an individual to a small group," says lead author Douglas Guilbeault, "they are much more likely to arrive at a category system that is very idiosyncratic and specific to them. But if I assign that same individual to a large group, I can predict the category system that they will end up creating, regardless of whatever unique viewpoint that person happens to bring to the table."</p>Why this happens
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTQ1NDE4NC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyMjkzMDg0Nn0.u2hdEIgNw4drFZ2frzx0AJ_MAxIizuM98rdovQrIblk/img.jpg?width=980" id="d3444" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5da57d66e388fad0f1c17afb09af90a7" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1440" data-height="822" />The many categories suggested by small groups on the left, the few from large groups on the right
Credit: Guilbeault, et al./Nature Communications
<p>The striking results of the experiment correspond to a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-019-0607-5" target="_blank">previous study</a> done by NDG that investigated tipping points for people's behavior in networks.</p><p>That study concluded that after an idea enters a discussion among a large network of people, it can gain irresistible traction by popping up again and again in enough individuals' conversations. In networks of 50 people or more, such ideas eventually reach critical mass and become a prevailing opinion.</p><p>The same phenomenon does not happen often enough within a smaller network, where fewer interactions offer an idea less of an opportunity to take hold.</p>Beyond categories
<p>The study's finding raises an interesting practical possibility: Would categorization-related decisions made by large groups be less likely to fall prey to members' individual biases?</p><p>With this question in mind, the researchers are currently looking into content moderation on Facebook and Twitter. They're investigating whether the platforms would be wiser when categorizing content as free speech or hate speech if large groups were making these decisions instead of lone individuals working at these companies.</p><p>Similarly, they're also exploring the possibility that larger networks of doctors and healthcare professionals might be better at making diagnoses that would avoid biases such as racism or sexism that could cloud the judgment of individual practitioners.</p><p>"Many of the worst social problems reappear in every culture," notes Centola, "which leads some to believe these problems are intrinsic to the human condition. Our research shows that these problems are intrinsic to the social experiences humans have, not necessarily to humans themselves. If we can alter that social experience, we can change the way people organize things, and address some of the world's greatest problems."</p>From NASA to your table: A history of food from thin air
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