Money Scripts Calculator
Identify your dominant money belief pattern.
Score your four core money scripts — avoidance, worship, status, vigilance — and identify the dominant belief pattern. Free educational tool.
What this tool does
Rate yourself 1-10 on four money-script dimensions. The tool shows a profile and identifies your dominant pattern.
Enter Values
Formula Used
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Calculations, display, or translation — let us know.
Disclaimer
Results are estimates for educational purposes only. They do not constitute financial advice. Consult a qualified professional before making financial decisions.
Money scripts are the unconscious beliefs about money we absorb in childhood. Klontz's research identifies four: money avoidance (money is bad), money worship (more solves everything), money status (net worth = self worth), and money vigilance (money is to be guarded). Most people lean on one or two. Knowing your dominant script helps explain recurring money behaviour patterns and decide where to work.
Behavioural self-assessment.
Run it with sensible defaults
Using avoidance of 4, worship of 6, status of 5, vigilance of 7, the calculation works out to Vigilance. Nudge the inputs toward your own situation and the output recalculates instantly. The defaults are meant as a starting point, not a recommendation.
The levers in this calculation
The inputs — Avoidance (money is bad/dirty), Worship (more money solves all), Status (net worth = self-worth), and Vigilance (guard and watch money) — do not pull with equal force. Not every input has equal weight. Flip one at a time toward extreme values to feel which ones move the needle most for your situation.
How the math works
Identify the highest-scoring of four Klontz money scripts. Each is scored 1-10 by self-assessment. The working is transparent — you can verify every step yourself in the formula section below. No black box, no opaque "proprietary model".
Why the behavioural angle matters
Most personal finance mistakes are behavioural, not mathematical. You know the math; the hard part is acting on it consistently. Calculators like this one are useful because they externalise a private feeling into a public number — and public numbers are easier to argue with than vague feelings.
What this doesn't capture
Behaviour-adjacent math is always an approximation. Human habits are lumpy and context-dependent; the figure here assumes steady behaviour which is a simplification. Treat the output as a prompt for thinking rather than a precise prediction.
Money scripts produces a profile based on the inputs provided.
Inputs
This example uses typical values for illustration. Adjust the inputs above to match a specific situation and see how the result changes.
Sources & Methodology
Methodology
Identify the highest-scoring of four Klontz money scripts. Each is scored 1-10 by self-assessment.
References
Frequently Asked Questions
What if I'm tied between two?
Which script is worst?
Can scripts change?
Does this replace advice?
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