5 Things I Learned from My Financial Behaviour Report
Throughout your life, you will make hundreds if not thousands of major and minor financial decisions. Should you buy or rent? Which investment should you get? Should you hire a financial planner?
As many will tell you, there is no right answer. It depends on your situation; a decision that works with one person can completely backfire with another. Therefore, you just have to learn all you can and where possible, experiment with what works for you and what doesn’t.
Personally, I have experimented with so many financial challenges. Some were successes, others were failures (which is okay; knowing what doesn’t work is progress too).
But what if there was a shortcut? A way to figure out YOUR unconscious behaviour, so you’re aware of your financial strengths and weaknesses?
I took that shortcut. I took the Financial Behaviour Report. It’s a paid service to reveal ‘how people like you make decisions about money’ via a series of behavioural questions. Here are 5 things I learned.

#1 – I should get a Balanced portfolio structure
All my adulting life, I have the tendency to go for Growth or Aggressive portfolios, because ‘young people can afford to take more risks’ mindset.
But according to my results, my natural risk tolerance is not that high.

Maybe it’s because I naturally get more cautious with my risk level as I get older. Maybe I’ve learned to value peace of mind more than maximising profit from my investments.
Whatever it is, is this why I am frequently worried over my current investment portfolio, which is crazy high risk? (You can see my investment portfolio breakdown here, but long story short, crypto dominates my portfolio).
#2 – I prefer DIY financial planning
According to my report, I prefer to DIY my financial planning, rather than work with a financial planner.

But IF I choose to work with a financial planner, I should keep in mind the advisor’s personality. Do I want someone who I can work easily with, or someone who can offer a different perspective? That’s something to consider if/when I can convince the control freak side of me to seek help.

#3 – What my strongest behavioural factors mean to my personal finance
Who would have known that someone who is Reserved and Creative would result in behavioural biases Mental Accounting and Newness Bias? Not me.
(Btw, I was offended by Reserved outcome, but yup that describes me alright. Nothing like finding out who you are without being sugar-coated)

This section also confirms what I knew all along – see the third line, Financial Attitude – I’m a natural saver (instead of a natural spender.

Another section also confirms what I knew all along – I am not a particularly ambitious person, and even if I set ambitious goals, they change all the time because I’m flexible.

Yup, no need for a grand life. I just want a simple life, where I get lots of time to think and get lost in my head. That’s what I aim for, that’s my definition of a good life. Yours might be different and that’s cool too, as long as you know what’s important for YOU.
#4 – I’m kinda financially disorganised?
This one came as a shock!! I scored low on financial organisation, and don’t follow budgets nor set agendas.
Kinda bummed about this, I thought I’m alright at this skill, but hey. At least I know than be in denial, correct not. Something to work on.

#5 – My Financial Compatibility with My Partner
The Financial Behaviour Report is available for Individuals (RM49) and Couples (RM99).
I took the Couple one; both of us completed it in one afternoon, and had a really nice, really frank conversation about our financial compatibility.
I found out that:
- Both of us have similar risk behaviours
- Both of us desire a simple life (yay!)
- He prefers to seek advice from financial planners
- He’s better at budgeting and saving money than I am (I’m the spender in this relationship??!!)
- I have higher financial emotional intelligence (but at 50 out of 100, not *that* high; can be better)
Freaking valuable information, this. After all, most couples fight about money, so it’s good to know where each of us stands at different financial touchpoints.

Where I Learned about the Financial Behavior Report
I learned about the Financial Behaviour Report tool from Farah Adira, a Licenced Financial Planner with Islamic Financial Planner (IFP®) credential since 2016.
She has a Bachelor’s degree holder specialising in Islamic Financial Planning, more than 7 years of exposure in Financial Planning, and regularly give talks and provide 1-on-1 financial consultations to corporate clients.

The Financial Behaviour Report tremendously helped me, so I contacted Farah and asked if I can help her promote and sell it to you, so you can benefit from it too.

You’ll get your report emailed to you. It’s fairly easy to read.
I honestly love the report and would recommend it to anyone who can afford the RM49/RM99 cost. If you get your Financial Behaviour Report done, let me know in the comments – what surprised you and what have you known all along?