When it comes to spending, what’s your greatest weakness?

Change Labs
Change Labs
Published in
5 min readMar 15, 2017

Even if your account has never been overdrawn (umm, wow), no one is immune to overspending. Well, maybe Change users who switch on Predictive Overdraft Protection™ — but even then, a bit of inattention and/or a combination of unforeseen circumstances could cause a budget glitch. Think you’re above it? Answer these 5 questions and we’ll reveal your secret money weakness — the one that might eventually cause your account to slip below zero.

Start Your Quiz:

You’re hungry. Now what?

A. I’ve been meaning to try out that new Korean place downtown. No time like the present!

B. I’ve got a tomato, an egg and mustard in the fridge. Time to McGuyver this thing.

C. Order in. Yeah, it’s the third time this week, NBD.

D. Luckily, I’ve got left-overs from the weekend I can heat up in a snap.

What’s hanging on your living room wall?

A. A state of the art, 65” flatscreen.

B. A clock.

C. A gallery wall made up of my favorite, one-of-a-kind art pieces.

D. Framed photos of my family and friends.

Which of the following secondary Friends characters do you most identify with?

A. Janice (Chandler’s ex)

B. Estelle (Joey’s agent)

C. Jill and Amy (Rachel’s sisters)

D. Carol (Ross’ ex-wife)

Choose a cat. Don’t overthink it.

A.

B.

C.

D.

You managed to save an extra $500 without even thinking about it, thanks to Auto-Saving. How do you spend it?

A. I don’t need a new dishwasher, but it’d be nice if all my appliances were stainless steel.

B. That’s going straight towards paying off my student debt.

C. Book a two week European tour, and figure out the specifics later.

D. My laptop’s been acting up. Finally, I can replace it without the guilt.

All done!

Now, take a look at your answers and figure out your Achilles’ heel.

If you answered mostly A’s:

You might slip into overdraft because of… A shiny, new iPhone 8.

You’re good with money, for the most part. You know how to stick to a realistic budget, and you save your rare splurging moments for things that truly excite you. However, every now and then you’ve been known to get carried away and make bad decisions. There’s nothing wrong with treating yourself now and then, as long as you have the means — so stay vigil.

If you answered mostly B’s:

You might slip into overdraft because of… Credit card fraud.

Your thriftiness is admirable! You keep close tabs on your spending, hardly ever loosening the purse strings. In fact, we’re willing to bet that overdraft fees are a rare — or foreign — event in your life. You’re so diligent about remaining in the black, that the only way you’ll end up overdrawn is if someone steals your card details and goes into a spending frenzy before you or your bank notice.

If you answered mostly C’s:

You might slip into overdraft because of… A spontaneous Caribbean cruise.

You like to live large, believing you’re entitled to the finer things in life. You hate to repeat an outfit, your eat at restaurants multiple times per week, your Instagram feed features shots of you in a variety of enviable locations, and your preferred form of ‘public transportation’ is Uber. How’s that working out? If you’re lucky, you’re breaking even and even saving a bit. If you’re reckless, you don’t need a quiz to tell you what’s causing your overdraft. Either way, we encourage you to take a look at your spending and prioritize.

If you answered mostly D’s:

You might slip into overdraft because of… A graduate degree.

You’re a practical person; you know that sometimes it takes money to make money. A Master’s Degree can help kickstart the career you want, just like all the other sound, responsible financial decisions you’ve made thus far. You’ll always do your best to stay afloat, but what might bring you under is your ambition. Don’t fret, you can and should have access to the things that’ll help you progress in life. As long as you plan for the long term, you’ll be just fine. No, more than fine.

Originally published at gochange.co on March 15, 2017.

Change develops an Invisible Service that links to bank and credit card accounts, analyzes money transactions and discovers bad financial behavior (symptoms). It then matches those symptoms with behavioral treatments that are executed through smart sms messages (nudges).

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