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“Why would I need a travel budget? I’ll just end up going over anyway. And besides, money isn’t the most important thing! Happiness is!” *starts flitting about the room like a butterfly*
Comments like this from my friends used to drive me nuts! Here I am laying down a concrete, easy-to-follow plan for them to get rich but all they want to do is talk about their disgusting feelings until I want to puke all over them.
And then one of our valiant Revolutionaries Eugene sent us to this “16 personalities” personality test in a comment. Now normally, I ignore these things since I already know what Ninja Turtle I am (Raphael, due to my love of the colour red) and I already know what Sex and the City girl Wanderer is (Samantha, due to his sexy mile-long legs).
But this test is based on the Myers Briggs personality test which is a really famous psychology test that I had taken before as part of various training sessions while I was still a corporate drone. I didn’t remember my exact result, but I remembered it being eerily accurate, so I figured what the heck. Let’s give it a shot.
How the Myers Briggs test works is that you answer a bunch of questions about yourself, ranging from:
to
(HA! Guess which answer I picked for those ones? )
From your answers, the test determines which of the 16 personalities you fall into, as denoted by these adorable little avatars.
Why 16? Well if you look below the personality type, you’ll see 4 letters:
Each of these letters represents a category. Within each category there are 2 types:
1) Where you focus your attention – Extraversion (E) or Introversion (I)
2) The way you take in information – Sensing (S) or iNtuition (N)
3) How you make decisions – Thinking (T) or Feeling (F)
4) Your approach to work, planning and decision-making – Judging (J) or Perceiving (P)
So if you take 2 of each type and look at all possible combinations, you get 2 ^ 4= 16.
Now, what does all this have to do with financial independence?
Well as it turns out, financial independence, like any other goal isn’t just about planning and execution. It’s also about motivation.
This is why some people make 6 figures and only manage to save 10% while others make $30K/year and save a whopping 66%. Some people aren’t motivated by the same thing as others. And how they achieve their goals are also vastly different.
Some people are driven by feelings, others by logic.
Some people are conservative, while others love taking risks and trying to hit a home run.
Some people are detailed planners; others prefer to fly by the seat of pants.
This is why when I write, I like to write detailed outlines, which are almost entire novels themselves. My author friends, on the other hand, would rather pound the keyboard until something that vaguely resembles a chapter comes out. This is why my stories are completed faster but my friends have to go through many many iterations. For them, the “magic” only happens when they start writing and their story moves in unexpected directions.
That’s why it was no surprise when I saw this result from my Myers Briggs test:
As an ESTJ (Extrovert, Sensing, Thinking, Judging), I’m relentless when it comes to goals. Once my mind is set, all I want to do is get shit done. And that’s why I’m holding a ruler. Whoever gets in the way of my goal is going to get their ass spanked. HARD.
And guess what Wanderer ended up with?
“Always finding a way — or making one”. Wow. That’s some scary ass accurate shit right there. As an ENTJ (Extrovert, iNtuitive, Thinking, Judging), Wander likes blasting through problems with the force of a thousand hurricanes and doesn’t like hearing “there’s no way”. If there isn’t a way, he’ll MAKE a way, figure out a plan, and then execute it.
Funny how out of the 16 types, we ended up being the only ones holding make-shift weapons. Coincidence? I think not.
While not everything in this test is accurate (I love tradition and rules? P-LEASE. I’d be happy as a manager or administrator? HA!), it does explain why Wanderer and I work so well together.
He plans for the big picture, and I dive right into the tasks, making sure we get it all done. Neither of us have ANY patience for feelings.
This is probably why when a friend shared this video with us with the obnoxious caption “Ha! Women, amirite?” We literally had NO idea what he was talking about.
After scratching our heads and firing up our keyboard to reply back with our confusion, the Facebook thread got clogged with replies that went “OMG so true!” “My GF is EXACTLY like that!” “That’s like my life every day!”
Huh. So apparently I’m NOT like most girls. Good thing I’m not a yoga instructor or therapist. I would be the WORST therapist EVER! “What? You want to tell me your feelings?!? EWWWWWW! *throws patient out window*
The main reason why we succeed at FIRE-ing at 31 is because we love getting shit done and don’t give a crap about precious “feelings”.
And this isn’t surprising. Most FI bloggers fall under INTJ (30%), ENTJ (15%), or ISTJ (15%). The theory here is that the “TJ” trait tends to be good with money. Money doesn’t care about your feelings, and financial independence is about careful well-thought out planning rather than flying by the seat of your pants.
Which explains why the ESTJ and ENTJ are the highest earners of the bunch:
I guess that makes sense. Extroverted people generally tend to make more money. And as “planning” and “logic” types, we’ll tend to pick practical careers to maximize earnings rather than cater to our “feelings”.
Which gets reflected in this graph, where I’m only in the middle when it comes to job satisfaction. More money doesn’t mean more happiness:
This does explain why FIRE worked out so well for us. As ESTJ and ENTJ’s we optimized our earning potential by getting jobs that were high-paying but not necessarily fullfilling, then Wanderer used his “NT” future-planning traits get us on the path to FIRE and I used my SJ traits to become a Budget Nazi. Neither of us were interested in buying a house as a “feelings-based” lifestyle decision. Nor were we in the LEAST bit concerned about following the herd just for the sake of fitting in. We preferred to crunch the math and made money our bitch. Hence that ruler my avatar is holding there (“Oooooh! Can be used as a weapon AND to measure things!”)
However, and this is important, your personality type is not a pre-destiny. It’s simply a snapshot of how you make decisions right NOW. It CAN change if you want to change.
For example, if any of you were to meet me back in high school, you would have met a very VERY different person indeed. In fact, I re-did the test as high-school me and I got this result:
HA! BWAHAHAHAHA!
A FLOWER?!? You can’t use that to stab ANYTHING!
That’s right. I was a completely idealistic hippie flower-power girl back then. I know, I know, the thought sickens me to my core too. And if you look at all the letters, every single one is literally the OPPOSITE of the letters I have now.
Interestingly, the test results describe Mediator personality types as “virtually all Mediators dream of becoming authors.” And that part is SPOT on, which I’ve retained to this day. So weirdly enough, I am now a combination of an Executor get-shit-done-hit-people-who-are-in-my-way-psychopath with the cuddly innards of idealistic flower child who thinks she can change the world using the power of her words.
What a fuckin’ weirdo.
Which really goes to show that your personality is not fixed at birth. You can change a lot over time, especially if you want to change.
So now the moment of truth: What personality type are YOU, my fellow revolutionaries? Take the test below:
Don’t sweat it if the results don’t match up to the “common FIRE types.” All that means is that you need a different motivation (rather than logic like the “TJ” types).
What do you think? Does this test shed some light how you or your friends and family think? I know that after taking this test, I no longer roll my eyes at my “Campaigner (ENFP)” friends when they talk about their feelings for hours. Nor do I try to give advice. I simply shut up and listen.
They may take longer to get to FI, or take a completely different path, but in the end, we all need to find the best path for ourselves.
What’s yours? Let us know in the poll below (Hey! That rhymes! *Pats self on back*)
Update: Click here for Part 2, where I breakdown your results.
[totalpoll id=”4164″]
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Thank you so much for diving into this. I’m ISTJ so this really resonated with me. 🙂 Thank you both for sharing your story and writing a very helpful and entertaining blog!
Hey, you’re only 1 letter off from mine. So cool!
Thanks for reading and glad the blog has been helpful!
Cool article! Glad FIRECRACKER linked it in a current post. I’m INTJ
Guilty as charged FireCracker. I definitely fit into one of those four main ‘FI’ personality types.
Is that *why* I achieved Financial Independence or *why I wanted to*? Hard to say.
I DO think it’s possible for other personality types…as you showed in this very post people can change. It’s very possible to learn new personality traits and change ourselves…although it does take a certain motivation.
AHA! I KNEW it! I bet if we opened up your computer, it would be full of spreadsheets. Just like mine!
And yeah, the change in personality traits was mind-boggling for me. I was like “how did EVERY SINGLE LETTER change”? Which really does prove that our brains are not fixed. It grows over time.
This is the most true statement evar!
People get fixated on the whole Myers-Brigg thing thinking that it defines them…. I’ve always felt that it show your weaknesses more than your strengths.
Once you know what you ARE using… then find out what you’re not and try to be more of that.
Of course… I would debate this, as someone who currently displays ENTP tendencies.
This post blew my mind. I already knew I was an INTJ… (which is supposedly rare for women)… but judging by the survey above, clearly I’m in the right place!
This explains my totally weird obsession with personal finance (even though I’m a designer/animator by profession.)
Wow! I don’t know a single designer who’s obsessed with personal finance…until now. Welcome to the FI club. One of us! One of us!
Yay! Another designer <3
I got INTJ too! Which is surprising, I honestly thought I would be a diplomat type ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Hmm, perhaps not so rare, or perhaps not so rare among us FIRE book/blogworms? Two might be coincidence…might there be a third floating around anywhere here?
Thanks for the information. I am ISFJ; now knowing the differences from FI, I’ll try to learn some new traits!
Nice! Learning new things is fun–like gaining a new superpower! Just ask the INFP me from back in high-school.
Just took the test real quick and found out I’m an ISTJ. Reading the descriptions now on the website and it’s pretty darn accurate for me. Haha Even after reading your article, before taking the test, I was pretty sure I fall under the “TJ” category.
Funny thing is that the poll is showing INTJ, ENTJ, ISTJ as the top 3 for Revolutionaries, matching the another poll that was done for FI bloggers. So looks like you are in the top 3!
HA! I guess TJ’s are the best traits for FIRE. That’s probably why the old INFP me from high-school decided to gain these 2 new superpowers!
I am INTJ as well.
Wow I’m blushing right now- I inspired a post on FI blog:))
As far as I know personality types don’t change- just some of the dominant features can be repressed by trauma or maybe living conditions – poverty or things like that. Like if you are a get it done kind of person but because of the external limitations you are not able to get shit done- you are forced to use your inferior functions- like feeling function, or suppress your extroversion. When you get rid of those limitations you become a healthier version of yourself and your dominant functions start to show. Like when you live with your parents or go to school – they all try to shape you into what they want inadvertently forcing you to behave in sub optimal way for you. But once you become more independent more of the real you starts to show.
One thing about MBTI though- I don’t think it’s super scientific. And once you get tested you seem to kind of role play your type and there’s a problem of confirmation bias so it’s good to take this with a grain of salt. But it’s overall a good theory of why people perceive things differently.
Yes you did! Thanks for the inspiration 🙂
I wouldn’t say it’s scientific either, but it does help you looking at people in a different way. In that in makes you realize that other people think differently from you, it’s not that they’re deliberately being annoying, it’s just they value different things and make decision in another way. That part I found very helpful about the MBTI.
And I disagree that people can’t change. People change all the time. Why do you think divorces happen? And the things you value now may not be the same things you cared about when you were younger. Life experiences and growth changes you. And so do other people.
I think the theory goes like this: your personality type doesn’t change over time- it’s like being right handed or left handed. You can still write with your left hand- it will just be sloppy and slow and you will get tired easily.
What happened to you I think is that you might have been forced to use your left hand due to the things you mentioned (not enough money, difficult childhood etc- hence introversion), being in school and living with parents – no way for your extroverted thinking to show either. Once that went away the real you came out.
You can tap into pretty much any function- feeling, thinking, intuition etc and we all have them all. It just the matter of how natural it comes to you and what you have a natural preference to. Or you just decide to ignore it. I can do manual labour or party all night but I will be drained as heck:). And if you force a feeler type person to do spreadsheets they can still do it but probably would want to shoot themselves after a while.
And the way with thinking and feeling- I think it works like this: any time we make a decision -no matter if you have a thinking or feeling preference- you get a shot of emotions. So thinkers are not emotionless:). But after that a thinker will work to analyse the emotions and disregard them in favour of logic. A feeler will just go with it.
Over-generalization and a boatload of BS.
(Forgive my honesty.)
Meh. It’s meant to help you see other people differently, not as a scientific breakthrough.
I am supposedly the rarest female type, a INTJ. As far as I understand, your type stays constant over your lifetime. I took this test 15 years ago, and just retook it via the link in this article, and both put me solidly into the INTJ category (I kept my first results and just checked them, curious to see if I got the same result).
They only stay constant if you reinforce those qualities by your actions. You CAN change if you want to. Your brain is not HARD-wired and neither is your personality.
Some people get the same results (Wanderer) over time, others don’t (me). But I do believe that people can change over time. It’s not easy but it is possible.
Your brain is not fixed. As you grow and experience different things, it evolves.
Perhaps how results change over time has to do with how often you want to pick BOTH agree and disagree on certain questions? Maybe it’s just the logical nitpicker in me, but seriously, asking me which you think is more important is like waving a big red flag in front of a bull…I often instantly want to say well, duh, both.
Like, of course the truth/winning is vital, but if you don’t also take people’s emotions/feelings/perceptions into account (particularly where said people are important to achieving the end goal), that basically makes for a sucky game plan (read: high failure rate) for accomplishing something, no?
Making decisions based on logic instead of emotions doesn’t mean NOT taking people’s emotions/feelings/perceptions into account or not having any emotions. It simply means, you will pick logic over feelings for important decisions.
Eg. If your financial advisor tells you to go all out and bet on a single stock, and the math tells you it doesn’t make sense but you FEEL like you’re going to miss out. Do you go for it anyway? Or do you look at the math and say, “nope, going doing it because the math says no”.
If you go for it anyway, the advisor will be happy and you’ll be happy that you’re not missing out, but when that stock tanks, you’ll be in financial ruin because money doesn’t care about feelings.
On the flip side, if you are too logically, you may also lose friends if you end up giving them advice too often instead of just listening and being a shoulder to cry on. That’s important too.
So there are downsides to being too logical, just like there are downsides to being too emotional. But that’s why the quiz shows your personality on a scale. No one is 100% logical or 100% emotional.
Hi guys!
I’m a female INTJ (extremely rare)… so it’s great to see so many INTJs on here too… and women also!
I have been a huge fan and student of Myers Briggs for many years now. I usually am trying to figure out what someone’s letters are the first time I meet them and it usually explains a great deal to me about how I do or don’t relate to someone. If someone is an ‘F’ for example, I recognize that small talk and social niceties (not something ‘natural’ for an INTJ) are very important to an ‘F’… and they’ll take me the wrong way if I don’t make an effort with those types of more ‘touchy feely’ areas of social interaction.
Love your blog as usual…
best,
Linda
That is such a great idea (trying to figure out people’s letter when meeting them). I just assume we don’t get along, but I do hate small talk (another female INTJ here)…and am quite abrupt…hmm. I think you just helped my social life :). Thank you!
Thanks, Linda! I wasn’t a fan of personality tests before this, but I think this test opened up my eyes to how other people think and feel.
There are quite a few INTJ females on here. That is rare and strange but also amazing!
Stop saying it’s extremely rare, as you can read it isn’t! It’s meant to make us feel unique, special probably to manipulate us somehow.
So I tend to be the type (ESFJ- it didn’t all sound right so I took it twice, same result) who is most happy at work (true, no patience with spending so much time in an unsavory way), and down the road a bit but still not bad at prioritizing income. Sounds right, and makes sense that I come a little later to FI.
This is fascinating, thanks!
Awesome! We are the same type 🙂
Almost- you’re ESTJ.
Thanks so much for all you do with your blog- hugely inspiring.
Oops, I read it as ESTJ. Oh well, only 1 letter off!
And thanks! Glad the blog is helpful!
I am also ESTJ!
Awesome! Welcome to the club 🙂
Fantastic post as usual. I love your writing style. This is the only FI blog that makes me laugh out loud multiple times during every post. I look forward to it.
My boy and I are INTJs. And we didn’t know that until like 5 years into our relationship. No one else in his family is one…or in mine…and now us being weirdos in everyone else’s eyes makes a lot more sense :). Thank you again. I await your Wednesday post with anticipation as always!
Awww! Thanks, Semira! And weirdos unite! We’re all a band of weirdos here. *Puts octopus on head*.
INTJ don’t have to be weird- there should be plenty of analytical brainpower to figure out how not to be weird when you think it might harm you.
So if you’re some variant on “TJ” you don’t care about “feelings” and take a risk-averse approach to your career, e.g. being an employee with a steady paycheck instead of an entrepreneur or other risk-hungry type. But….this seems to be contradicted by your take on early retirement – and many others – that it’s all about living an “awesome” life full of beaches and freedom. Seems to me that’s pretty damn emotional as a motivation….being free, having fun, having “fuck you” money. It seems you really, really give a damn about emotions, and if you didn’t, you’d probably still be optimizing for maximum wealth at your day job.
Point being – I think it’s a trap to fall into this binary thinking, where you’re either logical or touchy-feely. I’ve seen this with helicopter parents, they want their children reading non-fiction to “learn the most” instead of that gross world of fiction where you don’t learn anything about the world. This is obviously super short-sighted – emotional intelligence, which you gain through fiction by empathizing with the characters and generally placing yourself outside of your own head – is an amazing way to get ahead in life generally. We are rich tapestries of emotions and beliefs, even us FIRE types. Just because you are capable of long-term planning and self-restraint doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy poetry, aesthetic beauty, etc. You’re selling yourself short to say you’re a Vulcan-like logician with no emotional soul, none of us is the perfect economic rational agent, and that’s what makes life awesome!
K rant done, loving your blog 🙂
These things are all tendencies and while they might describe your decision making process, they don’t describe the decisions you make every single time.
For example, our decision to retire early from our perspective was extremely logical. We waited until the math swung so far in our favour that it make NO LOGICAL sense to continue working. The math says you don’t need extra money so why make more? That would be a fear or greed-based decision–which is emotional. So in that sense early retirement is an extremely logical decision and not an emotional one. This explains why so many FIREs are INTJs.
Also, I never said I’m emotionless or that I hate fiction…especially as a children’s author. I simply don’t make decisions that require logically thinking (like money) based on feelings. That would be wrong. Because math doesn’t have feelings. If the math is correct, doesn’t matter what your feelings are, it will still be correct. Math is very black and white that way.
That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy reading fiction or looking at art. Enjoying something has nothing to do with making decisions emotionally or logically.
ENTJ. I used to be an introverted kid, but forced myself to immerse myself in other people’s company, and now I really love going on. On Susan Cain’s Quiet Revolution questionnaire, though, I come up as an ambivert.
Totally irrelevant comments: I, too, can’t wait for your Southeast Asia posts! I’m planning a trip to Taiwan and Beijing and have never been to Asia, so I can use all the help I can get.
And can you explain a good way to look at stocks, dividend, and yield, maybe as part of your investment series? I was completely confused by Fairfax Financial’s gigantic array of preferred shares. Thank you!
Same here. I was painfully quiet and shy as a kid. But forcing myself to talk to other people changed that over time.
As for the southeast Asia post, that’s coming up this Friday! Oh man, if you’re going to Asia, you have to EAT EVERYTHING! Seriously. Especially in Taiwan and Beijing. Every single person I talked to who went to Taiwan LOVED it. So suspect you’re going to have a blast!
By “a good way to look at stocks, dividend, yield”, do you mean how to digest the information on prospectuses because it’s too overwhelming? Or how to pick preferred shares? (because we buy indexes not individual ones)
Yes! I can’t wait to eat! That’s my main goal in travelling. EATEATEATEAT. Beijing, I want to see the Forbidden Palace and the Great Wall. And then eat, except it sounds like they cracked down on the street food in Beijing.
“Do you mean how to digest the information on prospectuses because it’s too overwhelming? Or how to pick preferred shares? (because we buy indexes not individual ones)”
Both, really. I am considering an individual preferred share, even though I know I’m not “supposed” to. But I can’t make an educated decision without understanding what dividend, yield, dividend yield, and rate reset mean. Thanks for any insight, now or in the future. Always a huge fan of yours!
Oh make sure you dress up like a empress in the Forbidden Palace. So dorky and fun! I have a picture of me posing idiotically while wearing the stupid headdress. Worth it!
Okay, we’ll think about a future post talking about dividends and rate resets.
Ahhhhh! Now I’m even more excited to go to Forbidden Palace. I may be by myself, so I may have to take empress *selfies*!
Thanks for considering the educational post too. Math it up, dork it up, #win.
Adaptability is important. Our personalities may or may not be malleable but it is possible to ‘fake’ a trait if you observe that trait to be beneficial to meeting your goals.
I was born an introvert and still lean toward it (perhaps I’m actually an ambivert), but growing up I took notice of the traits in others that made them successful.
For example, I had the basic tools for athletics but sports never interested me. However, when I realized that being a jock meant girls and status, not only did I play sports but I also went to the gym regularly to give myself an advantage. Being involved in sports forced me to be “front page” and I embraced it because it gave me things I wanted.
Likewise, old acquaintances from school would tell you that I was a “people person” but the reality is that I put on a tiring elaborate act every day until highschool/university was over. Sometimes it was a lot of fun and you genuinely become the character you’re portraying. But I was happy when it was over so that I could concentrate on things I deemed important – like finances – in peace and solitude.
As I grow older I find being “outgoing” more natural simply because I’ve met every version of human that exists. When you’re no longer burdened by the politics of school or workplace, interacting with others becomes more pleasurable.
“Fake it until you become it”. Worked out great for you, worked out great for me 🙂
Haha I can’t believe this test actually got it right. I am for sure a ISTJ-A.
I think this article gets it right. FI is really geared towards certain personality types. Some people I just think don’t have the personality type to achieve this. For an example when I try to teach my wife about this stuff she just says its boring and not for her. The good thing is she is 100% on board with it, but she told me if it wasn’t for me she wouldn’t do it.
One time I asked her if you had the choice between learning about this stuff and working an extra 20 years, she point blank said she’d keep working lol. Keep in mind she is a saver, its the investing and planning part that is of no interest to her.
Actually I think the savings part is JUST as important as the investing part. No returns will be high enough if your expenses blow up.
So you could handle the investing and planning, and she the budgeting. A perfect combination for FIRE!
I’m a female ESTJ-T. I have always been a huge saver, even as a poor struggling student. I’d calculate if it was cheaper to use bus tickets or bus pass each month. My sister not so much. I went out to breakfast with her recently and mentioned that I have coupons for certain menu items, if she wanted. No way she said, I must determine what I want before I look at the coupons I don’t want to be swayed before hand. I roll my eyes. Who’s she kidding, she never uses coupons or sends in rebates. Too much overhead she claims. Well I gleefully hand over my coupons after she orders her eggs Benedict. Me, I didn’t use a coupon, because the breakfast special is way cheaper, even without a coupon.
I have the same problem convincing my FP friends to track their spending and learn about investing. I think it’s fun, they think it’s tedious.
But now, I don’t get frustrated like I used to. I’ve just realized they have a different thought processes when it comes to decision making. That’s okay. As long as they are happy and not blowing up their finances, it’s no big deal.
Im an INTJ!!! and I think in logic…and definitely not feelings, so its hard with the more emotional and less analytical types
It IS hard but I just being aware of how other people think and feel is very helpful. That way, instead of wasting time trying to convince them to do things our way, we just let it go and let them figure it out with their own methods. It’s quite liberating actually 🙂
Very true!
This is so neat! I’m a Defender to a T. I’m sure there are certain personality types that are attracted to the idea of FIRE, but anyone can achieve FI, regardless of their personality. It just goes to show that there are numerous paths to the same destination.
I took the test again and I got ENTJ. Last time you mentioned this topic on your blog I got INTJ so I guess one letter changed already or maybe I’m just not as tired today haha
Even though we scored the same personality type, based on your posts, I feel like you are much more logical than me. My math is pretty mediocre and despite knowing the advice I should go with index ETFs I didn’t and as a result missed out on the bull the past few years 🙁
I do notice most of my friends find personal finance to be utterly boring and the topic of FIRE to be ludicrous so I’m not surprised this blog has a high concentration of readers with a particular type of personality.
FIRECracker is Canada’s youngest retiree. She used to live in one of the most expensive cities in Canada, but instead of drowning in debt, she rejected home ownership. What resulted was a 7-figure portfolio, which has allowed her and her husband to retire at 31 and travel the world. Their story has been featured on CBC, the Huffington Post, CNBC, BNN, Business Insider, and Yahoo Finance.
Why yes, I’m glad the “Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V” shortcuts on your computer box works. Good to know. Good to know 😉
Facts over feelings?
So it turns out that not all millennials are snowflakes. Awesome! haha.
I hate to keep using cliches but the chickens do usually come home to roost later in life for people that live a fly-by-night lifestyle.
Once youthful energy and good looks are gone, they’re faced with the drudgery of eking out a living. Scary. Yeah, fear can be a great motivator, too.
Millennials aren’t all the same?! Shocking, right?
I would say that people flying by the seat of their pants tend to live life on a rollercoaster. Not always a bad thing and definitely gives them great stories to tell. Not great for finances though, since money doesn’t care about feelings.
INTJ, female.
Nice! Out of the 413 readers who participated so far, 98 are INTJ (24%). WOW! Looks like that’s the top type for FIRE. Which is interesting since INTJ is only 1 to 2% of the regular population.
“Here I am laying down a concrete, easy-to-follow plan for them to get rich but all they want to do is talk about their disgusting feelings until I want to puke all over them.”
Brilliant.
ISTJ-A. I got a little -A at the end for assertive. No surprises here.
Hey cool! You’re like introverted version of me. Except mine is -T instead of -A, so that means I’m an extroverted version of you but batshit insane!
Oh, I’m also an executive 🙂 Was a bit surprised by the result though. Anyway, personally box seems to be ticked on the journey towards FIRE 🙂
I had fun reading this article and filing the test, thank you for sharing!
YAY! Welcome to team “Executive”. Looks like they are 29 (7%) of us out of 413 who participated in the poll.
Thanks for sharing this. I recently came across your blog via a link from JLCollinsNH and have been hooked reading articles the past few weeks (love how your personality really comes out in your writing). Your site particularly resonates with me as I recently moved from the US to Canada and I’m finding your Investment Series quite helpful with Questrade, thank you for that! I too am on track for FIRE and also received ESTJ – that TJ part is key, not being attached to feelings and being able to grind out the corporate job knowing all those hard earned $$$s will pay off in the end. I’m 30, received my master’s by 22, paid off $70k in student loan debt by 24, and currently have a net worth of just under $500k. I’m all about budgeting, travel hacking, cooking meals at home, and doing free activities that are good for the soul (walking, hiking, biking, etc). I’m planning to grind out the corporate job for another 5 years to help get my partner at FIRE level too.
One big difference between your strategy and mine – I purchased a foreclosure townhouse that I rented out (both while living there I rented the rooms out separately & currently I’m renting the entire townhouse out to a family). The money gained from the rental income along with the value of the house doubling from when I purchased it has GREATLY impacted my route to FIRE. I know the Toronto market is completely different than the Florida housing market from 5-10 years ago with all the foreclosures, but it certainly helped my situation. Not saying one route is better than another, just pointing out real estate can help your route to FIRE depending on the location.
Thanks and looking forward to continuing to read about your journey!
Courtney
Welcome, Courtney! Fantastic job getting to 500K at age 30! That is really impressive! I think the key to your winning strategy with real-estate is that you a) bought a foreclosure property b) turned the dead equity into cash flow by renting it out.
So yes, there is money to be made in real-estate INVESTING, but the key is that you figured out cashflow by renting it out and bought it for a low enough price that it made sense. Finding good tenants who pay the rent on time and don’t destroy the place is very important, so would love to hear about the criteria you use to vet them.
Oh and also, welcome to Canada! How’s the winter treating you so far? Hopefully it’s not too much of a shock from sunny Florida. Have you gone skiing or skating yet?
Thanks for the response back. Yes, investing in real estate is key – making money from it rather than just sitting on the property is very important. While I was living there, I was getting more in rental income than all housing costs combined that I was actually getting paid to live in my house. I paid the mortgage off in less than 3 years.
As for my roommates while I was living there, believe it or not, I only rented the place out to guys (never lived with guys before at that point). I was a bit hesitant at first, but all of my male roommates were amazing. They all were very clean, mostly kept to themselves, and out of the house most of the day. Some were co-workers and some were from Craigslist – never had an issue and I still consider most of them good friends to this day.
As for my tenants currently renting out the entire home, I truly owe it to my awesome realtor/property manager. She has all these tricks up her sleeve when showing the home to prospective tenants (for example, she would scope out their car and the cleanliness of it – people who keep their car clean tend to also keep their house clean). Little things like that. We eventually ended up renting the home out to a family who was willing to pay $100/month more than the asking price (crazy!). The two biggest things for me (besides the obvious that they were willing to pay up) were that 1. They provided reference letters from past landlords and 2. The husband is a facilities manager and is very handy and has offered to fix multiple small issues (does not charge for his time, just the cost of materials). So I really lucked out with this family and hope they sign on again for year 3! Side note: because I know how rare it is to have an awesome tenant, I have not requested their rent to increase as it is SO not worth $600-1200/year to deal with potentially extra hassles from a different tenant.
As for the move up to Canada, I’m loving it so far. My partner is Canadian and I’m a dual citizen (my dad was born in Ottawa). We moved to Calgary a little over a year ago now and love all the outdoor activities. SO different from Florida – but people are generally much nicer and don’t seem so rushed in their daily lives. I definitely could do without the frigid temps and tough winter driving conditions though! I grew up playing ice hockey (weird I know, FL kid playing hockey but there are a few of us that do exist!) so being in Canada has been great in that respect – everyoneeeee loves hockey here and having free outdoor rinks is awesome. We scored $99 season ski lift passes to Mt Norquay in Banff so have hit the slopes a few times too. If you’re ever out west let me know, would love to meet up and share stories – sorry for the super long response!
Great story! What area of Florida would you recommend to invest in for rental properties?
Thanks Tommy! I was living in the Southeast in Jupiter, FL (West Palm Beach county) which is where I purchased my foreclosure. The FL market there has changed drastically since I bought my property in 2012 – the unit has literally doubled in value. So would not be the ideal place to look into investing in a cheap property now. However, it seems Ft Myers (where my dad lives) is still struggling and you can find some pretty cheap real estate on the west coast. Hope this helps!
Female INFJ here. MBTI is calculated on a spectrum, but I’ve always tested solidly in INFJ territory each time I’ve taken it (going on a couple of decades). I”ve also been frugal all my life (a couple of years away from FI/RE-ing. I could do it now but with the market so overvalued, I feel more comfortable with a cushion). So consider that FI/RE isn’t just for “TJ” types – to make that claim seems overly broad. With that said, what’s up with the perceiving types? Their representation seems very low. Also, does one of these personalities correlate to the spendthrift type? Once you have a more robust data set, it’d be interesting for you to cut the data and offer a follow up post.
“Once you have a more robust data set, it’d be interesting for you to cut the data and offer a follow up post.”
You read my mind. 🙂
And yeah, P representation does seem low. Or maybe they’re too busy doing spontaneous fun things to be reading this stupid boring blog ;P.
As for the spendthrift type, they are supposedly to correlated to “SJ”, since these are the fiscally conservative or “protector” types. Of course, these are just tendencies. A lot of other things come into play, like the friends you hang out with, your life experience, your environment, etc. So definitely to be taken with a grain of salt since it’s not scientific. I just use it to educate myself about other people and it has really helped me understand my friends better.
“Spendthrift” actually means “a person who spends money in an extravagant, irresponsible way.” I know, it sounds backwards
Seriously? HA HA. It’s like “inflammable” means “flammable”. The English language is weird.
Thank you for your blog. I am a little confused about being able to tell if I’ll receive dividends or interest income before the purchase. On different sites they mark them all as dividend and yield. Could you please give me some insight on this matter. I spent $9.95 to purchase and $9.95 to sell when I found out 4 months later I had received interest. (Which is taxed at 100%). My TFSA is full. Thank you.
Thank you for your blog. I am a little confused about being able to tell if I’ll receive dividends or interest income before the purchase. On different sites they mark them all as dividend and yield. Could you please give me some insight on this matter. I spent $9.95 to purchase and $9.95 to sell when I found out 4 months later I had received interest. (Which is taxed at 100%). My TFSA is full. Thank you.
Sorry. Didn’t mean to repeat myself.
I actually answer this exact question here: https://www.millennial-revolution.com/invest/workshop-invest/investment-workshop-11-understanding-etf/
Also, why are you spending 9.95 to trade? You can do it for free! Check out our workshop 🙂
I have been investing for 25 years, it wasn’t free back then. I started reading your blog back in July or so. Back then it was more convenient to do everything through my bank accounts. Thank you for that tip. When I speak to others, I always mention your amazing blog!
Awww! Thanks, Bindi!
Supposed “INFP” here (or is it INFJ? Or ENFP? I get a new result every time) happily planning her early financial independence. Luckily for my flower child soul, any psych undergrad should be able to tell you that Myers-Briggs is practically useless as a personality metric. Just a well-marketed means for the test admins to profit off corporate organizations IMO. In any case, it’s destructive and alienating to box people into categories like this. Why cast doubt on peoples’ ability to achieve FI if they’re here reading your blog already?
Hey if you don’t agree with the test, then ignore it. It’s just a fun test to get to know people, I never said to bet your whole life on it. Please put away your pitchforks and torches 🙂
I think the point of the test is not to box anybody into a specific personality type but to describe at a given moment in time where an individual’s personality fits in closest. The test does not suggest that personalities can’t change, nor that one personality is better than any other.
Describing and categorizing things is a hallmark of science and is a powerful tool to help us learn more about ourselves. I think the test is many things – foremost pretty interesting – but not at all destructive nor alienating.
Well said, Tommy! I do get that some people may feel dejected if they’re not part of the “TJ” or “NT” categories, but that doesn’t mean they’re not going to reach FIRE. This test just find tendencies, it won’t be able to describe every person perfectly. Nor does it predict their success in life.
It’s just a fun quiz to get to know each other. No one is better than anyone else.
As someone falling under INTP, I find it interesting that INTP is ranked second last in average salary and near the bottom in job satisfaction. The avatar is holding a flask of science for crying out loud! Science pays well, and can be quite satisfying (also a scientist). Am I missing something? Maybe the P leads to more by the gut decisions rather than strictly decisions based on numbers? I tend to flip between P and J based on the day, which matches the trend in the article a little better.
Interesting post, keep up the good work! Interesting to see the huge spread of personalities here in the survey, and the ones that show up the most tend to line up with what you might expect.
Yeah, I’m a bit puzzled by that as well. You’d think “T” (logic) would fair better in pay. No idea.
I’m excited to breakdown the results too! Let’s see how it matches up to the trend.
I bet INTP just have a hard time to find stimulating work hence low job satisfaction hence low pay. I bet J is more like suck it up and work type attitude.
Commander here! ENTJ with, in order of strength:
– 77% N – Totally me, yes!
– 66% J – Expected to be higher on J…
– 64% E – Totally reasonable, I’m extremely extrovert but I love spending time with myself too. A lot.
– 62%T – What the hell? I expected 99% here!
62%T. HA! So you’re not a complete basket case! YAY!
I’m INTJ and never meet and other INTJs except online, where they seem to be everywhere!
As it turns out INTJ is the most prevalent type on FI blogs, BUT only 1-2% of the general population. I think we need to start an INTJ convention…
I bet lots of people score NTJ- just because the answers seem “right” in a logical kind of way. And in this society people prefer to be seen as logical and effective.
That’s why it helps to also have a friend or SO take the test for you when you’re not in the room. This weeds out incorrect results from lack of self-awareness 🙂
What was cool was that I did the test as Wanderer and he as me, and we got the same results 🙂
A comment about change – in college, I took the test and was INTP. I took it today, many years later, and I scored ISFP. Which one was right? I agree with those on here who say some might answer what they think is the “better” trait rather than what is correct about them. My strict, black-white upbringing taught me that fact was better than feeling, there is one right answer, etc. and I know it tainted my score, i.e. This is how I should be or should want to be perceived.
Now older and slightly wiser, I can admit that I will drop details, lose a board game for lack of planning, and have to give myself a mulligan for every trip I go on: I can’t relax until I see – and improvise for – my first planning mistake.
I think there are ranges to the traits. So maybe after you got out of the strict upbringing, you swung a bit more in the other direction. I’m not a perfect planner either (miss details and lose board games all the time), but for important things like my travel plans and retirement plans, I like to double-check and triple check everything. Stuff like board games and spelling mistakes (unless I’m writing a book), I couldn’t care less about and make mistakes all the time.
Maybe you can ask someone you know to do the quiz as you? I asked Wanderer to do the quiz for me (incase I’m not self-aware) and he got the same result for me as I did.
Female INTJ here and I’m a Registered Architect to boot! But maybe not for long…hubby and I just reached our official FIRE number this week!
Wow! Nice job! Congrats on joining the FIRE club!
Coming late to the party here, but you and I are nearly the same. I’m ESTP.
I call myself an extroverted introvert – extroverted in public but a happy hermit at home.
Interestingly, buying a house and paying it off was PARAMOUNT for me. But that was probably a result of life happening rather than my personality type – you leave you husband with $60 cash in your hand and training 4 boys under 5 behind you and security becomes very important!
I am an INTJ-type Japanese female attorney. I’m aiming to FIRE in my 20s. I thought that there are many Japanese people who have achieved FIRE who are not influenced by others. Therefore, I am investigating the hypothesis that some personalities are more likely to achieve FIRE and become happier when they achieve FIRE. After seeing this site, I felt again that INTJ type is easy to achieve FIRE, and it is a character that should challenge this. Among Japanese, there are many Japanese blogs that introduce the methodology to achieve FIRE, but I think there are still few Japanese considerations that take personality into account.When I achieve FIRE, I would like to give a speech to the Japanese people about the relationship between FIRE and personality.