By Bill Taber
By now you know you should be investing, but what should you invest in? Understanding what type of investor you are is the first step. Your investment style is not only influenced by your age, your goals, and your risk tolerance; it’s also influenced by your personality. Understanding your unique investment temperament can go a long way in helping you make the best investment decisions for your portfolio.
What Is Your Investing Personality?
There are many ways to define an investor: seasoned vs. novice, active vs. passive, aggressive vs. conservative. While these descriptions are certainly valid, they are all characteristics of deeper, more complex personality frameworks. Taken from the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), the following investing personalities can be used to better understand your particular investing style, which, in turn, will help you to make better decisions.
Sensors
Sensors are investors who make decisions based on what they can see, hear, or touch. They prefer concrete, literal ideas and like to focus on the reality of how things are. If you are a sensor, you need something tangible to look at or touch in order to understand it. People who work in the trades or construction tend to be sensors.
Intuitors
Intuitors are investors who make decisions based on gut feel—or their intuitions. They are comfortable with abstract ideas and are more likely to make decisions based on the possibilities of how things could be as opposed to how they are right now. If you are an intuitor, something needs to “feel” right for you in order to invest. Artists and creative people tend to be intuitors.
Thinkers
Thinkers are analytical investors who are able to think impersonally and logically. These investors tend to be more detail-oriented and often ask a lot of questions. If you are a thinker, you likely need a lot of information before you are able to make a decision. Engineers and technology professionals tend to be thinkers.
Feelers
Feelers are focused on their personal values and how their actions affect others. They are often considered empathetic and are likely to prefer investments that align with their moral codes. If you are a feeler, you probably make decisions with your heart and prefer that your investments produce emotional harmony—even over cold, hard returns. Caretakers, teachers, and counselors tend to be feelers.
How Does Your Investment Personality Affect Your Portfolio?
There is no right or wrong way to think about your investments, but it is good to be aware of your investing personality so you can make decisions you feel good about for your long-term financial plan.
For instance, an investor who is a feeler may be prone to making hasty, emotional decisions during economic downturns, which could result in pulling out of the market before there is a chance to benefit from the upswing. Conversely, a thinker may be overconfident in his or her investment ability and could expose his or her portfolio to too much risk.
Whatever your investment style, knowing your shortcomings and limitations is the best way to avoid making financial mistakes. Feelers and intuitors may be better off investing in environmental, social, and governmental (ESG) investments that align with their core values, while sensors and thinkers may prefer to invest in commodities or high-appreciation stocks.
How We Can Help
At TABER Asset Management, we take the time to understand your unique investment personality and will analyze your goals, objectives, and preferences before creating a financial plan tailored to your needs. Together, we can build a strategy that matches your investment style. Get started today by scheduling a 15-minute intro phone call online or reaching out to us at 515-557-1860 or invest@taberasset.com.
About Bill
Bill Taber is President and Founder of TABER Asset Management, an independent, fiduciary wealth management firm that strives to do one thing well: manage their clients’ money by creating wealth, building wealth, growing income, and preserving capital so they can experience financial freedom. With more than four decades of experience, Bill is dedicated to building relationships with his clients and their families and walking alongside them as they navigate financial decisions. His favorite days are the ones when he gets to witness the joy and relief on his clients’ faces when they realize they can pursue their dreams and live their ideal lifestyles. Bill is known for going the extra mile, getting things done with integrity, and working with a stewardship mentality.
Bill graduated from the University of Iowa with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and fell in love with the profession when he got to help one of his first clients—his father—turn his lifetime of hard work into a dream retirement. He got his start in the industry as a corporate services representative for Bankers Trust Company and spent decades working as Assistant Vice President of E.F. Hutton & Co. and First Vice President of Principal Financial Securities. He is also a graduate of the E-Myth Worldwide Mastery Business Development Program and is Series 65 registered.
In his spare time, Bill enjoys giving back to his community and served 11 years as a member of the Board of Trustees of Broadlawns Medical Center and 14 years as a Community Representative to their Board Finance Committee. He is also one of the founding members of the Greater Des Moines Connections Mentoring Program. When he’s not working, you can often find Bill spending time with his family and participating in one of his many hobbies, which include traveling to national parks, presidential libraries, and foreign countries; reading non-fiction; and practicing yoga, Pilates, and meditation. He also loves the simple joys of listening to music, going for walks or bike rides, and watching James Bond 007 films and any movie starring his favorite actress, Meryl Streep. To learn more about Bill, connect with him on LinkedIn.