Lown, J. M. (2007). Measuring Financial Planning Personality Type Based on the Stages of Change. Journal of Consumer Education, 24,28-39.
Brief description: The two-question Financial Planning Personality Type (FPPT) assessment provides a simple and practical tool to evaluate an individual’s financial planning type as well as their stage of change in Transtheoretical Model (TTM). The questions ask about a person’s financial attitudes and financial planning attitudes. It is easy to administer and score. Derived from the Retirement Personality Profiler (RPP) in the Retirement Confidence Survey (RCS), the FPPT categorizes respondents into one of the five types: deniers, strugglers, impulsives, savers or planners. (See journal article for response categories and scoring.)
Implications: Knowing one’s readiness for change can provide insight into how to move forward in achieving financial goals. Progressing to the next level of change may be more realistic than expecting to achieve a challenging financial goal. Having information on the TTM stage is helpful to educators in developing programs to catalyze behavior change and assessing program effectiveness. Financial advisers can use this simple assessment to guide their suggestions for action. In sum, consumers, educators, practitioners and researchers can use the two-item FPPT to quickly assess stage of change (or readiness to learn or take action) to achieve financial goals.