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