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What Is Your Money Actually For?

Two different questions hide inside every money decision: how much of a swing you can live with, and whether the money is for now or for later. They are not the same question, and answering one does not answer the other.

Twenty-four statements, about four minutes, and a point on a map. Answer for the money you get to decide about, whatever amount that is.

24 questions

Answered 0 of 24

  1. 1 A loss bothers me more than a gain of the same size pleases me.
  2. 2 The first job of money is not to disappear.
  3. 3 A predictable, modest return appeals to me more than a shot at a large one.
  4. 4 I would pay real money to make an outcome more certain.
  5. 5 A wider spread of possible outcomes is a fair price for a better one.
  6. 6 I am comfortable holding something whose value could halve.
  7. 7 I have sold something because watching its value move around was not worth it to me.
  8. 8 I would rather have money later than the same amount now.
  9. 9 Chances to enjoy money run out sooner than chances to earn it.
  10. 10 Putting something away before I spend any of it is the right order to do things in.
  11. 11 I would rather do the thing now than have more money for it later.
  12. 12 Stopping work early is worth living smaller now.
  13. 13 If I had money spare, I would want most of it somewhere that could rise or fall sharply.
  14. 14 Going without something now for the sake of later is an easy trade for me.
  15. 15 Money left unspent at the end was money that did not get used.
  16. 16 Refusing every risk has a cost of its own, even when the price is not printed anywhere.
  17. 17 If a sum of money arrived unexpectedly, most of it would be put away rather than spent.
  18. 18 Using borrowed money to take a bigger position is a reasonable thing to do.
  19. 19 I would give up part of the upside to make the bad case less bad.
  20. 20 I have taken money I had put aside for later and spent it on something I wanted at the time.
  21. 21 Putting a large share of my money behind one idea sounds right to me rather than reckless.
  22. 22 I get more out of watching a balance grow than out of spending it.
  23. 23 A plan that pays off decades from now is aimed at somebody I have not met yet.
  24. 24 Money is for the life you are having now.