How deeply do Money Archetypes affect your relationship?

Deborah Price, founder of the Money Coaching Institute often talks about the Eight Money Archetypes and what they mean. If you completed the quiz on our website, you know which money archetype(s) drive your Money related behaviours is by now.  But you may wonder .... what does this information mean for your relationship with your partner?

Your Archetypes show "WHERE you are now, not WHO you are".

Keep in mind that your money archetypes do not show "who you are". Rather, it reveals "where you are right now" with regard to your relationship with money. 

If you and your spouse have both taken the money type quiz,

Congratulations!

Congratulations because you have taken the first step which will improve your capacity to talk "as a couple" about money matters.

It will help to understand the perspective you are individually coming from, as well as which archetype is running your individual money decision making process. Once both of you are aware of it, it gets easier to communicate about the topic of Money.

After you identify individually which archetypes influence most your behaviours, here are the top 3 actions you can take :

1) List the words you selected in the quiz and select some of them which is associated with your leading archetype. These words will become more clear during the complementary Money Type consult you can avail of after submitting your quiz.

2) Look for ways in which you can support each other when you face a challenging adjective or trait (any word you do not "know how to" or do not find easy to handle by yourself). And here I say support on purpose... support as opposed to impose your solution to your partner. It can very tempting to fall into this and impose on your partner, what looks obvious and simple to you. 

3) Keep the conversation honest and be gentle with your partner. If expressing feelings, emotions and putting words on Money related behaviours is relatively new to the two of you, look at it as if you both started learning a new language. Blaming and shaming is very likely to just shut off the communication and prevent the two of you to lift the veil discover something deep and meaningful. 

As always, if you still have a hard time communicating, seek support from a couple's counsellor or a money coach depending on where you feel the issue is coming from. You fully deserve the support and it will serve you to get on the right track in your relationship. 

While I have no specific explanation for it, I see men resisting the idea to take the quiz and I am occasionally asked :

"What if my spouse does not want to take the quiz?"

Obviously the ideal situation is if both partners take the quiz but if it is not feasible ... it is still very productive to take the money type quiz on your own. 

When you understand which archetypes are driving your own behaviours and your individual relationship with Money, you are equipped to improve that relationship on your side!

It is common for people to believe that others around them have to change ... but over time I learnt that we can only affect change within ourselves, not within others.

If your partner is not engaging, initiate the process : You will be glad you did it!

When our attitude changes, people close to us start noticing it and eventually express it. When they do so and ask about what has changed, this is the perfect time to introduce them to the way you initiated this transformation.

Be gentle with yourself and your partner, no matter what! Lead the process and trust that the results that you will achieve by yourself or with your spouse will eventually trickle down and benefit your couple.

Let me know how it goes for you!