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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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Scientists find 16 'ultra-black' fish species that absorb 99.9% of light
These alien-like creatures are virtually invisible in the deep sea.
A female Pacific blackdragon
- A team of marine biologists used nets to catch 16 species of deep-sea fish that have evolved the ability to be virtually invisible to prey and predators.
- "Ultra-black" skin seems to be an evolutionary adaptation that helps fish camouflage themselves in the deep sea, which is illuminated by bioluminescent organisms.
- There are likely more, and potentially much darker, ultra-black fish lurking deep in the ocean.
The Pacific blackdragon
Credit: Karen Osborn/Smithsonian
<p>When researchers first saw the deep-sea species, it wasn't immediately obvious that their skin was ultra-black. Then, marine biologist Karen Osborn, a co-author on the new paper, noticed something strange about the photos she took of the fish.</p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"I had tried to take pictures of deep-sea fish before and got nothing but these really horrible pictures, where you can't see any detail," Osborn told <em><a href="https://www.wired.com/story/meet-the-ultra-black-vantafish/" target="_blank">Wired</a></em>. "How is it that I can shine two strobe lights at them and all that light just disappears?"</p><p>After examining samples of fish skin under the microscope, the researchers discovered that the fish skin contains a layer of organelles called melanosomes, which contain melanin, the same pigment that gives color to human skin and hair. This layer of melanosomes absorbs most of the light that hits them.</p>A crested bigscale
Credit: Karen Osborn/Smithsonian
<p style="margin-left: 20px;">"But what isn't absorbed side-scatters into the layer, and it's absorbed by the neighboring pigments that are all packed right up close to it," Osborn told <em>Wired</em>. "And so what they've done is create this super-efficient, very-little-material system where they can basically build a light trap with just the pigment particles and nothing else."</p><p>The result? Strange and terrifying deep-sea species, like the crested bigscale, fangtooth, and Pacific blackdragon, all of which appear in the deep sea as barely more than faint silhouettes.</p>Pacific viperfish
David Csepp, NMFS/AKFSC/ABL
<p>But interestingly, this unique disappearing trick wasn't passed on to these species by a common ancestor. Rather, they each developed it independently. As such, the different species use their ultra-blackness for different purposes. For example, the threadfin dragonfish only has ultra-black skin during its adolescent years, when it's rather defenseless, as <em>Wired</em> <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/meet-the-ultra-black-vantafish/" target="_blank">notes</a>.</p><p>Other fish—like the <a href="http://onebugaday.blogspot.com/2016/06/a-new-anglerfish-oneirodes-amaokai.html" target="_blank">oneirodes species</a>, which use bioluminescent lures to bait prey—probably evolved ultra-black skin to avoid reflecting the light their own bodies produce. Meanwhile, species like <em>C. acclinidens</em> only have ultra-black skin around their gut, possibly to hide light of bioluminescent fish they've eaten.</p><p>Given that these newly described species are just ones that this team found off the coast of California, there are likely many more, and possibly much darker, ultra-black fish swimming in the deep ocean. </p>'Deep Nostalgia' AI brings old photos to life through animation
Using machine-learning technology, the genealogy company My Heritage enables users to animate static images of their relatives.
- Deep Nostalgia uses machine learning to animate static images.
- The AI can animate images by "looking" at a single facial image, and the animations include movements such as blinking, smiling and head tilting.
- As deepfake technology becomes increasingly sophisticated, some are concerned about how bad actors might abuse the technology to manipulate the pubic.
My Heritage/Deep Nostalgia
<p>But that's not to say the animations are perfect. As with most deep-fake technology, there's still an uncanny air to the images, with some of the facial movements appearing slightly unnatural. What's more, Deep Nostalgia is only able to create deepfakes of one person's face from the neck up, so you couldn't use it to animate group photos, or photos of people doing any sort of physical activity.</p>My Heritage/Deep Nostalgia
<p>But for a free deep-fake service, Deep Nostalgia is pretty impressive, especially considering you can use it to create deepfakes of <em>any </em>face, human or not. </p>When does an idea die? Plato and string theory clash with data
How long should one wait until an idea like string theory, seductive as it may be, is deemed unrealistic?
- How far should we defend an idea in the face of contrarian evidence?
- Who decides when it's time to abandon an idea and deem it wrong?
- Science carries within it its seeds from ancient Greece, including certain prejudices of how reality should or shouldn't be.
Plato used the allegory of the cave to explain that what humans see and experience is not the true reality.
Credit: Gothika via Wikimedia Commons CC 4.0
<p>When scientists and mathematicians use the term <em>Platonic worldview</em>, that's what they mean in general: The unbound capacity of reason to unlock the secrets of creation, one by one. Einstein, for one, was a believer, preaching the fundamental reasonableness of nature; no weird unexplainable stuff, like a god that plays dice—his tongue-in-cheek critique of the belief that the unpredictability of the quantum world was truly fundamental to nature and not just a shortcoming of our current understanding. Despite his strong belief in such underlying order, Einstein recognized the imperfection of human knowledge: "What I see of Nature is a magnificent structure that we can comprehend only very imperfectly, and that must fill a thinking person with a feeling of humility." (Quoted by Dukas and Hoffmann in <em>Albert Einstein, The Human Side: Glimpses from His Archives</em> (1979), 39.)</p> <p>Einstein embodies the tension between these two clashing worldviews, a tension that is still very much with us today: On the one hand, the Platonic ideology that the fundamental stuff of reality is logical and understandable to the human mind, and, on the other, the acknowledgment that our reasoning has limitations, that our tools have limitations and thus that to reach some sort of final or complete understanding of the material world is nothing but an impossible, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01K2JTGIA?tag=bigthink00-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">semi-religious dream</a>.</p>Can you still spread coronavirus after getting the vaccine?
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