Ladies, What's In Your Wallet? Five Money Profiles That Can Define (And Empower) You!

Online, July 26, 2010 (Newswire.com) - In her just-published book, Influence: How Women's Soaring Economic Power Will Transform Our World for the Better (Hyperion, May 2010), best-selling author and Age Wave co-founder Maddy Dychtwald, a global expert on future trends, explores women's relationship to money and how that impacts her life and society in general.

"When it comes to women and their money, we discovered five classic types. Knowing which money profile accurately describes your basic financial personality is a solid first step towards taking better control of your money, and thus your life, " says Dychtwald. "If you want to intelligently earn money, smartly spend and save it, and most of all see it grow, take a look at these five profiles-which reflect how confident a woman is in her relationship with money-and see which fits."

Alpha Female: Alpha Female is the most confident of five types, and tends to act more the way society expects a confident man to behave with his money. The Alpha Female is the most optimistic, risk-tolerant, and aggressive of the personalities.... Most important, the Alpha Female feels financially and psychologically independent and in charge.

Perceptive Planner: The Perceptive Planner is not quite as confident as the Alpha Female, but she is highly analytical, responsible, disciplined and optimistic. The Perceptive Planner is extremely hands-on. Unlike the Alpha Female, she's motivated primarily by the desire for security and stability, and would never move forward without having all the facts under her belt. The Perceptive Planner is the largest group in the study by far, accounting for 35% of all woman surveyed.

Power Partner: As the second most common group in the survey, the Power Partner is less interested in money for its own sake and more for what it can do for her loved ones and herself. She's collaborative and willing to strike compromises, believing that two heads are better than one. Like the Perceptive Planner, she's driven primarily by her desire for stability. The Power Partner reported being the happiest of the five personalities.

Supportive Traditionalist: Supportive Traditionalists hope that someone else will take care of everything money-related for them. She is highly emotional about financial matters rather than analytical. She enjoys spending, but she is not that interested in gaining knowledge such as saving and investing.

The Uncertain Searcher: Least confident among the profiles was the Uncertain Searcher. This woman is led by her emotions when it comes to making decisions about money. She is fearful and sometimes becomes paralyzed when it's time to make financial decisions.

One shocking discovery Dychtwald made in interviewing women for her book (besides the fact that so many woman are unsure about their money skills that a quarter of women put themselves in the least confident groups) was that younger women are more likely than older women to worry about usurping the man's role, to think money might make them less attractive to men, and to say they'd see their partner as "more of a man" if he too more control of the finances.

"One thing is clear here. Any woman who continues to think this way faces clear and urgent dangers to her independence and perhaps even to her very economical survival," says Dychtwald. The good news, she reports, is that these personalities aren't fixed within us and women are able to educate themselves into a more confident role.

For more information, log on to www.maddydychtwald.com