This 90-minute webinar is the second day of the Virtual Learning Event (VLE) and will focus on positive personality traits of financially fit people. The first section of the webinar will include an overview of personality traits as well as a discussion of the research related to personality traits and personal finance. The webinar will conclude will suggestions for working with individuals while taking into account their personality and impact on their personal finance decisions. You will have an opportunity to take a personality trait quiz. Register, join & find resources: https://learn.extension.org/events/2592/ Speaker: Dr. Martie Gillen

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https://learn.extension.org/events/2592
Positive Personality Traits of Financially Fit
People

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and Cooperative Extension professionals to research
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MFLN Intro
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3. Dr. Martie Gillen
•Assistant Professor & Extension
Specialist for the Department of
Family, Youth and Community
Sciences in the Institute for Food and
Agriculture at the University of Florida.
•Dr. Gillen teaches the undergraduate
research methods course and
graduate course in the areas of
personal and family finance including
income tax, retirement, estate
planning and insurance.
•Dr. Gillen services as the co-leader of
the Family Financial Management
priority work group.
•Her Extension work focuses on
promoting healthy financial behaviors
among families throughout the
lifecycle.
Today’s Presenter
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Martie Gillen, Ph.D., MBA
Positive Personality Traits of
Financially Fit People

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Webinar Objectives
 Explore the Big 5 personality traits
 Examine personality traits as related to financial
behaviors and outcomes
 Discuss implications for use with clients
 Provide resources and references
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Personality
 Personality is a relatively enduring pattern of thoughts, feelings,
motives, and behaviors unique to each individual and determines
how we perceive and response to the environment differently
(McCrae & John, 1992).
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Personality Traits
 Personality traits can be seen in the actions one takes and the
decisions one makes.
 For example, either you are a patient person, or not; a responsible
person, or not.
 Personality traits are relatively enduring personal characteristics that
reveal themselves in a particular pattern of human behavior in a
variety of situations (Bratton et al. 2007).
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8. + Time for a poll question
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Big 5 – Personality Traits
 Common measure of personality traits
 OCEAN
1. Openness
2. Conscientiousness
3. Extraversion
4. Agreeableness
5. Neuroticism
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Openness to experience
 Intellect or culture
 Imagination and insight
 Those high in this trait also tend to have a broad range
of interests
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 High levels of thoughtfulness, with good impulse control
and goal-directed behaviors
 Those high in conscientiousness tend to be organized and
mindful of details
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Conscientiousness

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Extraversion
 Excitability, sociability, talkativeness, assertiveness, and
high amounts of emotional expressiveness
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Agreeableness
 Trust, altruism, kindness, affection, and other prosocial
behaviors
 “Softhearted”
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14. +Neuroticism
 Emotional instability
 Individuals high in this trait tend to experience anxiety,
moodiness, irritability, and sadness
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15. + Time for 2 poll questions
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Personality Traits in Relation to Financial
Behaviors
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Personality Traits
Financial Outcomes & Behaviors
Personality traits are closely related to financial
outcomes and behaviors such as
 Earnings and savings (Duckworth & Weir, 2010)
 Response to an economic downturn (Duckworth &
Weir, 2011)
 Financial expectations (Brown et al., 2008)
 Amount of household debt (Brown et al., 2005)
 Quality of retirement experiences (Robinson et al.,
2010)
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Openness to experience
 Intellect or culture
 Imagination and
insight
 Those high in this
trait also tend to
have a broad range
of interests
Save less
Spend more
Higher levels of
unsecured debt
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Behaviors FinancialBehaviors

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Conscientiousness
High levels of
thoughtfulness
Good impulse control
Goal-directed
behaviors
Organized
Mindful of details
Save money
Plan
Goal oriented,
Spend less
Higher lifetime earnings
Better able to manage
“fixed” retirement income
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Behaviors FinancialBehaviors

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Extraversion
Excitable
Social
Talkative
Assertive
High amounts of
emotional
expressiveness
Change financial plans
after talking to friends,
family, or colleagues
Good support network
Higher levels of unsecured
debt
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Behaviors FinancialBehaviors

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Agreeableness
 Trust
 Altruism
 Kindness
 Affection
 Other prosocial
behaviors
 “Softhearted”
Accept financial
assistance
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Behaviors FinancialBehaviors

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Neuroticism
Emotional
instability
Anxiety
Moodiness
Irritability
Sadness
Pessimistic
May put off saving and
financial planning
May liquidate assets in
times of turmoil
Lower lifetime earnings
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Behaviors FinancialBehaviors

23. + Time for a poll question
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24. + Research Findings
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Research Findings
Conscientiousness is a predictor of asset
accumulation among young Americans (Letkiewicz &
Fox, 2014).
A one-standard-deviation increase in
conscientiousness is correlated with a
40% increase in net worth
53% increase in illiquid asset holdings
33% increase in liquid asset holdings
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Research Findings
Those with low self-control are more likely
to buy on impulse and have money
management and credit problems (as cited
in Letkiewicz & Fox, 2014 ).
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Research Findings
Those who scored high in the trait of
conscientiousness were more likely to
consume in line with their expectations (as
cited in Letkiewicz & Fox, 2014) .
Conscientiousness was successful in
predicting credit risk and credit scores (as
cited in Letkiewicz & Fox, 2014) .
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Research Findings
Older adults who were more conscientious
and emotionally stable had higher lifetime
earnings and saved more money over their
lifetime as compared with older adults who
were less conscientious and emotionally
unstable (Duckworth & Weir, 2010).
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Research Findings
During the recent economic recession,
conscientious older adults saved more and
spent less of their income compared to
older adults who exhibited higher levels of
openness to experience (e.g., adventurous,
sophisticated) who saved less and spent
more of their income (Duckworth & Weir ,
2011).
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Research Findings
 Having financially optimistic expectations is
positively associated with one’s level of unsecured
debt.
 The more positive thinking individuals are about
their finances, the more likely they are to have
higher levels of unsecured debt such as credit card
debt (Brown et al., 2005) and secured debt such as
mortgage debt (Brown et al., 2008).
 They may sincerely believe they will financially succeed
and be able to pay off the debt.
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Research Findings
Extraversion and openness to experience
influenced household debt levels and assets held,
whereas conscientiousness and neuroticism
were not influential (Brown & Taylor , 2011).
Suggests that personality traits have different
effects across the various types of debt and
assets held
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Research Findings
 Extraverted and agreeable older adults generally
have a better support network in retirement and
therefore enhanced life satisfaction in retirement
(Reis & Gold, 1993).
 Regarding gender, women are more likely than men
to exhibit higher levels of neuroticism and
agreeableness and these differences generally
remain constant across the lifecycle (Chapman et al.,
2007).
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Research Findings
Agreeable older adults are more likely to receive
financial assistance (Gillen & Kim, 2014).
Older adults with relatively higher levels of
neuroticism show less resistance to receiving
financial assistance (Gillen & Kim, 2014).
Conscientious older adults were less likely to
receive financial assistance (Gillen & Kim, 2014).
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34. + Time for a poll question
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Research Findings
Older adults who had relatively higher levels of
neuroticism were more likely to receive financial
help from individual sources (e.g., credit card
debt) (Gillen & Kim, 2014).
Agreeable older adults were more likely to
receive financial help from family members
(Gillen & Kim, 2014).
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Research Findings
 Conscientiousness may be associated with both positive
health and financial practices
 Those who reported frequent planning behavior had
higher health behavior scores than others (O’Neill,
Xiao, & Ensle, 2016).
 Those who reported frequent planning behavior had
higher financial behavior scores than others (O’Neill,
Xiao, & Ensle, 2016).
 Those who had higher health behavior scores also had
higher financial behavior scores (O’Neill, Xiao, & Ensle,
2016).
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Implications
Can an individual's personality be changed?
 Research is mixed
 They are not fixed traits and can potentially be altered by
experience and investments (as cited in Letkiewicz & Fox,
2014).
 At best, changing personality traits is difficult.
 May be able to bring about
 Awareness of behaviors
 Behavior change
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Understanding personality can provide
invaluable insights for financial advising
and interventions based on unique
personality traits.
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Implications – Financial Practitioners

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Approach clients with messages
compatible to their personality traits
People may react differently to the same
message.
Targeting outreach efforts and messages
based on personality differences may help
practitioners reach potential clients.
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Implications – Financial Practitioners

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Implications – Financial Practitioners
Efforts directed toward increasing
conscientiousness may have positive effects
(Letkiewicz & Fox, 2014).
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What are some ways that you
might help clients to increase their
conscientiousness?
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42. +Implications – Financial Practitioners
Consider clients’ personality traits, health
practices, and personal finances holistically
(O’Neill, Xiao, & Ensle, 2016)
The strengths and challenges in one aspect of a
client’s life often affect others.
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43. +Implications – Financial Practitioners
When financial planners understand a client’s
health status and personality traits, they can
provide more comprehensive, individually targeted
advice (O’Neill, Xiao, & Ensle, 2016).
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Implications – Financial Practitioners
 Recommend alternative sources of financial assistance or
education programs for those who have specific personality traits.
 For example, neurotic older adults have relatively high level of
credit card debt at older ages.
 Practitioners could advise neurotic individuals to consider public
assistance when they need help, and complete financial
education on saving and spending even at older ages as well as at
younger ages.
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Homework
 Take a Big 5 Personality Quiz
 http://personality-testing.info/tests/IPIP-BFFM/
 https://sapa-project.org/
 http://www.personalityassessor.com/bigfive/
 How could you use this in your own work with clients?
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 Focus on Money Personalities
 https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/CFS/CFS-727-2-W.pdf
 Which of These 5 Money Personality Types Are You?
 http://www.dailyfinance.com/2015/04/30/which-of-these-5-money-personality-types-a
 The personality types that make the most and least amount of
money
 http://www.businessinsider.com/the-personality-types-that-earn-the-most-and-least-m
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Resources

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 5 Personality Traits That Lose You Money
 http://www.forbes.com/sites/thestreet/2012/01/26/5-personality-traits-
that-lose-you-money/#5fef5b85f6ff
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Resources

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 Bratton, J., Callinan, M., Forshaw, C., & Sawchuk, P. (2007). Work and
organizational behavior. Hampshire, England: Palgrave Macmillan.
 Brown, S., Garino, G., & Taylor, K. (2008). Mortgages and financial
expectations: A household level analysis. Southern Economic Journal, 74,
857-878.
 Brown, S., Garino, G., Taylor, K., & Wheatley Price, S. (2005). Debt and
financial expectations: An individual and household level analysis.
Economic Inquiry, 43(1), 100-20. doi: 10.1093/ei/cbi008
 Brown, S. & Taylor, K. (2011). Household finances and the ‘Big Five’
personality traits. Sheffield Economic Research Paper Series, SERP Number:
2011025.
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References

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 Chapman, B., Duberstein, R., Sorensen, S., & Lyness, J. (2007). Gender
differences in five factor model personality traits in an elderly cohort:
Extension of robust and surprising findings to an older generation.
Personality and Individual Differences, 43(06), 1594-1603.
 Duckworth, A. & Weir, D. (2010). Michigan Retirement Research Center.
Personality, lifetime earnings, and retirement wealth (#2010-235). Ann
Arbor, MI.
 Duckworth, A. & Weir, D. (2011). Personality and response to the financial
crisis (#2011-260). Ann Arbor: Michigan Retirement Research Center.
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References

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References
 Gillen, M. & Kim, H. (2014). Older adults’ receipt of
financial help: Does personality matter? Journal of
Family and Economic Issues, 35(2), 178-189.
 Letkiewicz, J. C., & Fox, J. J. (2014). Conscientiousness,
financial literacy, and asset accumulation of young
adults. Journal of Consumer Affairs, 48(2), 274-300.
doi:10.1111/joca.12040
 McCrae, R. R., & John, O. P. (1992). An introduction to
the five-factor model and its applications. Journal
of Personality, 60, 175-215.
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References
 O’Neill, Barbara, Jing Jian Xiao, & Karen Ensle. 2016.
“Propensity to Plan: A Key to Health and Wealth?” Journal
of Financial Planning 29 (3): 42–50.
 Reis, M., & Gold, D. (1993). Retirement, personality, and life
satisfaction: A review and two models. Journal of Applied
Gerontology, 12(2), 261–282.
 Robinson, O., Demetre, D., & Corney, C. (2010). Personality
and retirement: Exploring the links between the Big Five
personality traits, reasons for retirement and the
experience of being retired. Personality and Individual
Differences, 48, 792-797. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2010.01.014
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Questions or Comments
Martie Gillen, Ph.D., MBA
Assistant Professor
Family and Consumer Economics for Older Adults Specialist
Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences
University of Florida
mgillen@ufl.edu
352-392-0404
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56. Evaluation and
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MFLN Personal Finance is 1.5 credit hours for today’s
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57. Personal Finance Upcoming
Event
Wealth Building with Savings,
Investments & Windfalls
• Date: Thursday, June 16, 2016
• Time: 11 a.m. Eastern
• Location: learn.extension.org/events/2593
For more information on MFLN Personal Finance go to:
https://blogs.extension.org/militaryfamilies/personal-
finance/
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58. VLE Wrap Up Discussion
• Thursday, June 16, 2016
• 1 p.m. Eastern
• 30 minutes
• Join us for an interactive discussion of the
resources, tools and quizzes shared during the
Virtual Learning Event, as well as your own
experience as practitioners. Email
mollyh2@extension.org by Thursday morning to
share your story during the event.
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59. www.extension.org/62581
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