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