Norma Walton shares her experience with various types of investors and her observations on their personal money styles and how it affects their investing decisions.

1. Norma Walton, Money Styles
By: Norma Walton
http://money.ca/you_and_your_money/2016/06/25/norma-walton-money-styles/

2. Table of Contents
“Because I can…” ………………………………………………………………….
Different Money Style = Different Investment style .……………..
Carlo’s stock market experience ……………………………………………
My experience with investors ………………….…………………………..
Investor Types……………………………………………………………………….
1. The conservative: ……………………………………………………………..
2. The seasoned investor: ……………………………….……………………
3. The investor in a hurry: …………………………………………………….
4. The entrepreneur: ……………………………………………………………
Determine what is most important to you ……………………………
Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………
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3. “Because I can…”
I have twin boys, fraternal, who are 10 years old. One is a saver and
the other a spender.
My eldest (by a minute) has saved $620 while his brother has a mere
$190.
My youngest told me the other day
he wanted to buy a Kindle on Kijiji
for $80 because he could afford it.
In contrast, his brother decided he was
going to wait until we had our garage
sale to determine whether he wanted
to spend any money to buy one.

4. Different Money Style = Different Investment style
Identifying your money temperament is critically important to
determining the sort of money decisions you should make in your life.
If you are a saver, you likely don’t want to risk your capital. You may
only want to continually add to that savings year over year.
If you are a spender, you likely have nothing
to invest. If you happen to inherit some
money, you may be comfortable with risk
because you don’t value savings.
It is a good idea to determine your money style before choosing an
investment.

5. Carlo’s stock market experience
My husband once worked with a fellow named Carlo.
Carlo invested $5,000 with a broker in the late 80s and asked the broker to
buy Dell stock.
Every day he checked the stock price and would fret and panic if it went
down or he thought it might go down.
Every day he called his broker to ask his advice on whether to hold or sell.
Every day he lost at least two hours of his day focusing on his investment and
worrying about what might or might not happen.
After about 30 days he sold it all and decided never to invest in the stock
market again.
I am sure his broker was relieved.

6. My experience with investors
I started buying real estate with investors in 2003.
It did not take long to notice that of the 20 investors
in that project, some had a stomach for the risk of
the investment and others did not.
The plan had a three year timeline yet some of the
investors would call me every week for an update
and it was obvious they were losing sleep.
When a healthy profit was paid out inside of three
years, some were happy, some were disappointed,
and some were just relieved to have their money
back in the bank where they knew it was safe.

7. Over the years I have met the
following investor types:

8. 1. The conservative:
This person needs to keep her money in cash in the bank or in GICs or
savings bonds.
Otherwise she worries about losing her capital.
Her goal is capital preservation above all else and the amount of
interest she earns is almost irrelevant.
She is uncomfortable with any degree of risk that has any possibility of
decreasing the amount of money she has saved.

9. 2. The seasoned investor:
This person is knowledgeable about various types of
investment and has been investing his money for many
years.
He is comfortable taking some risk with his money
provided he understands that risk and feels he can
evaluate and assess the nature of the risk and the
possible returns and the possible outcomes.
He may invest in long standing public companies, in
REITs, or in private rental real estate properties.
He generally will have an advisor with whom he
consults and will generally follow that person’s advice.

10. 3. The investor in a hurry:
This person wants to get rich quick.
He believes in investments that are
too good to be true.
He is constantly disappointed by
the failure of his investments and
his loss of money but he is
incapable of changing the way he
invests the next time.

11. 4. The entrepreneur:
She is comfortable with risk and runs her own
successful business.
She evaluates an investment opportunity based
on her business experience and her assessment
of the character and competence of the person
running the investment.
She will often invest in other small businesses
or projects that she understands due to her
experience running her own business.
She wants something she has some control
over in some capacity.

12. Determine what is most important to you
There are many types of investments.
For your own personal peace of mind,
determine what is most important to you
before you put any of your money at risk.
Is it:
• the potential rate of return on project
completion
• the safety of your principal investment
• that you know the person who is investing the
money and trust that person
• do you want income from your investment to
top up your existing income?

13. Conclusion
Once you determine your primary objective for investing and you
assess your personal tolerance for risk, you can evaluate possible
investments to determine if they meet your criteria.
If you match your personal money style to the investment, you will
likely sleep easy no matter what happens.