Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Assigning Money Management Styles Based on Simology

I've been wondering how to add a bit more dimension to my sims, especially when it comes to debt and spending habits. Thankfully I came across an article about money management styles and I wondered if I could apply that to my sims.

Basically each money management style is seperated by traits, actually thier serious score and thier money interest score, so there's nothing new for me to randomly roll, I just look at my simmies' stats. Also, the nature of their money management style is pretty fluid as well. Here's a brief overview of the money management styles.

  1. Worrier (Serious 5+/ Money Interest 5-)
  2. Binger (Serious 5-/ Money Interest 5+)
  3. Spender (Serious 5-/ Money Interest 5-)
  4. Hoarder (Serious 5+/ Money Interest 5+)
We'll examine each one in detail including thier thoughts on debt and some examples of how thius works in my hood. As always feel free to borrow or steal or modify away, I'd love to know how you modify and adapt it to your hood.

Worrier

Serious 5+, Money 5-
The worrier lies awake at night worrying about simoleans but aren't actually sure how much is in their savings account. This sim is pretty serious, but lacks the money knowledge to feel comfortable with thier money.

Thoughts on Debt
The worrier sim will take on debt, but will neglect to read the fine print or even know the terms of thier loans. This results in being overwhelmed with debt and worried about thier financial health.

Example
Bill Carr is a worrier, his serious nature makes him aware that money is pretty important and that he should create some sort of financial plan for his family, but he doesn't. Instead he doesn't look at the details of his debt is is surprised when debt collectors start calling.

Hoarder
Serious 5+ / Money 5+
The sim hoarder loves sales and is a bargain hunter. They are conservative with money, and highly conscious about savings.

Thoughts on Debt
The hoarder doesn't mind taking on debt of appreciating assets, however they are usually very careful about adding debt to their lives. They perfer paying in cash or saving up for a large purchase instead of taking on debt.

Example
Rebecca Wilsonoff is a classic hoarder. She looks for sales and discounts and often saves up for large expeneses. She is very conservative with money, instead of taking on large amounts of debt for Ana Rayne's surgeries, she sold the large family home and downsized to an urban townhouse to free up the necessary simoleans.

Spender
Serious 5- / Money 5-
The sim spender does exactly that spend freely. A spender  thinks that buying and owning new things makes them happy,  and feel unhappy if they can't afford things that friends have. They like to stand out and thier purchases are status symbols.

Thoughts on Debt
Whatever it takes to get what they want, spenders will max out multiple lines of credit and often have a deck of credit cards.

Example
Li Yoo is a spender. She enjoys the finer things in life and is willing to pay dearly for it. The nicest loft in the metro, the latest designer shoes, picking up the tabs for expense lunches with friends and flying across the simworld in first class.

Binger
Serious 5- / Money 5+
The sim binger is a combination of hoarder and spender. These sims keep on top of their debt, and can find the lowest rate on a debt vehicle. At the same time, the binger's will buy flat-screen TV just in time for the sports party.

Thoughts on Debt
Managed debt is ok, according to the sim binger. They often pay for their splurges with either savings or a small short-term debt before paying it off.

Example
S'Ahmisa Warwick is a binger. She is a whiz with money, increasing her stock portfolio and making wise investments to increase her very cushy nest egg of more than $250,000. However she splurges all the time for her friends and herself. She will buy tickets to a far away place at the last minute because she needed a break, she will partake in massages after a hard class or even send secret gifts of groceries or needed supplies to families in need when she feels the need.

7 comments:

  1. This is very, very interesting!

    I have to admit I haven't given much thought to money management styles, apart from with a few Sims. Without knowing the terms, I've written Luc as a spender and Finn as a hoarder. I wonder if their interests in money match up with those traits - their serious/playful already does.

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  2. Like Carla, I haven't given money management a thought either. I'm happy that you did all the work for me. So, that I can find a way to play this out in my game. I already use a form your system of selecting aspirations.

    I'm going to file this away for later.

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  3. Carla, I didn't know the terms either until reading an interesting article and thought-hey, that's S'Ahmisa! Let me know if thier money interest matches up. I used the money interest because sims can change thier interest in subjects (ie learn more about money and personal finance) which would then change some of thier desicions. My sims rarely keep the same level of interests throughout thier lives.

    Oasis Valley, I use it more as an extra bit of information for making desicions in my game. I mostly use it with loan desicions and to give more background to my sims and thier wants.

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  4. I was dead on with Finn - classic Hoarder. Luc turned out as a Binger though, which was a surprise to me. I didn't realise he had any interest at all in money, seeing I don't think I've ever seen him talk about it.

    I'm definitely going to keep all this in mind with my Sims in the future. ;) I already started actually - this was how I decided that Gordon and Lia would take out a loan for him to go to law school.

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  5. -Carla, sometimes they surprise you. I thought S'Ahmisa was going to be a hoarder, but binger makes sense as well. She knows about money, but is quick to buy some large purchase or vacation trip.

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  6. How did I miss this one? I have no idea, but I LOVE it! I'm going to use this. It's awesome, Starr!

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  7. Riverdale, thanks, I don't know how you missed it. I don't advertise this blog as much, but there are tons of posts, so if you want to follow it and get notifications about new posts.

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Thanks for reading and commenting!

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