Sheryl Sutherland says your personality is not your character. We all have specific personality traits, so overcome them by using your character to control them and achieve your financial goals

By Sheryl Sutherland*

"Your overconfidence is your weakness.”

~ Luke Skywalker, Return of the Jedi

In my field there are so many smart people, Anthony Isola is such a one. I follow his work as part of my routine reading. In a recent commentary he reminded me of William James, the founder of psychology. In the late 1800’s James said, “By age thirty, character has set like plaster and will never soften again”.

A recent experiment by social scientists debunked this theory. They recruited 1500 entrepreneurs in their 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s setting up three groups. A control group, and two which focused on cognitive and character skill training. In the character skills group the psychologists focused on proactively applying discipline and determination. The character group were resourceful in looking for a financial support, changing character through retraining, learning, seeking, and accepting support whereas the control group did not.  

Adam Grant suggests this in his book Hidden Potential “Character is often confused with personality, but they are not the same. Personality is your predisposition. Your basic instincts for thinking, feeling, and acting (the lizard brain if you will). Character is your capacity to prioritise your values over your instincts (prefrontal cortex).”

So, dear reader, I hear you say what has that got to do with me? I’m here to tell you that there are numerous bad days when you start, and when you continue your financial planning. It’s really easy to ditch a financial plan when markets go against you, the market looks to be in freefall, we are in the middle of a pandemic or a GFC. None of these times can he ignored as the media gaily seizes gloom and doom.

This is where your character comes into play, you need to face the fact that there will be bloodletting and stick to your well-constructed financial plan.

If you can’t, and make a mistake as many people did at the start of pandemic by switching investments to cash or a conservative portfolio, that’s part of the game. How you react and learn is character building. Restructure your portfolio, a hard choice as it usually involves loss. Bear in mind investment is long term endeavour and takes some character-building discipline.

Your personality isn’t your destiny, it’s your tendency. We all have specific personality traits so overcome them by using character to control them.

Traits and instincts. In one person it may be fear of investing thus penalising your returns, or a thoughtless risk taker who has no control over financial decisions.

Use character to make the right choices.

*Sheryl Sutherland is director of The Financial Strategies Group, and author of Girls Just Want to Have Fund$ – Every Women’s Guide to Financial Independence, Money, Money, Money Ain’t it Funny – How to Wire your Brain for Wealth, and co-author of Smart Money – How to structure your New Zealand business or investments and pay less tax. You can contact her here.