These 4 Money Personalities Dictate Our Spending Habits. Which One Are You?

By now, you've probably explored your zodiac chart, calculated your Myers-Briggs, and maybe even dabbled in your human design. But do you know your financial personality type?

Brad Klontz, Psy.D., CFP, is a clinical psychologist turned financial planner who has spent years studying the beliefs and assumptions that motivate his clients' relationships with money. In time, Klontz has calculated the four money "scripts" that drive everyone and written a book about how to optimize them, called Wired for Wealth: Change the Money Mindsets That Keep You Trapped and Unleash Your Wealth Potential.

In order to really explore your financial life, you need to think about more than just how you're spending your paycheck. "You have your financial behaviors above the surface of the water," Klontz says, comparing our tendencies to an iceberg. "Underneath you have all this subconscious stuff clanking around in your head that's probably been put there from people generations ago."

Unsurprisingly, money vigilance is considered the most desirable script in the long run, and Klontz says most of the wealthy people he's worked with fall into the vigilant camp. Don't worry if you fall into one of the other three, though, because it's possible to inhabit different scripts with time.

In order to move past your current script, you need to consider why you're there in the first place. What ingrained thoughts are holding you back? What under-the-ice associations with money are getting in the way of a brighter financial future?

"Ask how these beliefs are playing out in your life. Are they helping you? Are they hurting you? Putting it into context is hugely powerful," Klontz says. He then recommends taking the inquiry a step further and questioning why you started to have these beliefs in the first place. If you grew up in a less wealthy household, for example, research shows you're probably more likely to equate money with status. If you grew up with a lot of money but had a parent who was constantly working, you might practice more money avoidance.

This sort of thinking can lead to some pretty intense revelations: "People don't really talk about this stuff, so a lot of times it's brand-new information for them, so they can have a lot of discoveries," Klontz says.

Once you consider the narratives keeping you in your money script, you can start to move past them by exploring other ways of being. "If you're looking to make more money, try to find someone in your life right now who is a step or two ahead of where you are. Almost like an amateur psychologist or anthropologist, try to pick their brain. How do they think about money? What's it like for them?"