What's Your Money Script? The 4 Types That Control Your Finances

# What's Your Money Script? The 4 Types That Control Your Finances

> **Quick answer:** A money script is one of four unconscious belief systems — Money Avoidance, Money Worship, Money Status, or Money Vigilance — identified by financial psychologist Dr. Brad Klontz. These beliefs form in childhood and quietly drive your adult financial decisions, often without your awareness. Fizzty's quiz reveals your dominant money script in about 2 minutes.

Your money habits are not random. They are not a character flaw. And they are almost certainly not the product of rational decision-making, even when you think they are. According to financial psychologist Dr. Brad Klontz, most financial behavior is driven by "money scripts" — unconscious belief systems formed before age 10 that continue to run in the background of every spending, saving, and investing decision you make as an adult.

Understanding your money script is arguably the highest-leverage financial move you can make — because no budget, app, or investment strategy can fully compensate for a belief system that is working against you.

## The Psychology Behind Money Scripts

Dr. Brad Klontz introduced the money script framework in a 2011 study published in the *Journal of Financial Therapy* ("Money Beliefs and Financial Behaviors: Development of the Klontz Money Script Inventory"). The research identified four distinct belief clusters — measured by the Klontz Money Script Inventory (KMSI) — each with predictable associations to financial outcomes including net worth, income, debt levels, and savings rates.