EDITION Nº 07 · GROW · 7 MIN READ
This week, at a glance
The idea: your investor type isn't your personality. It's your history, your work and your life right now, and it changes.
The one thing to do: take the three-minute quiz and learn more about your relationship with money.
Who it's for: anyone who has borrowed someone else's money strategy, or never chosen one.
Hi all,
Your Money, Your AI here, issue 7.
I grew up in the Soviet Union. And in our flat, money 💰 lived in books 📚
Not under a mattress. And definitely not in the bank.
Between the pages of very specific novels on very specific shelves, and only my mother knew which ones.
No wonder I love books so much now 😉
The first time I understood the system, I laughed. Then I thought about my mom's life. Her generation watched the savings they kept in the state bank lose almost all their value in the early 1990s. A bank had failed them. A book wasn't inflation-proof at all, but at least it never disappeared.
Was my mother an investor? No.
But she was a Preserver. (Some of you who've been to my live events may recognize the term. Well done!!)
And I am an Adventurer.
Crypto. Over 100 startup investments, directly and through venture funds, some of which I've accepted I may never see again.
I try not to tell my mother a lot about my money life. She gets scared, thinking I'm the reckless one. She may have a point 🌞.
We are the same family. But opposite ends of the risk scale. Both strategies make sense for the lives behind them.
So this week we are going to find out where you sit, too.
That's exactly what my quiz is for: Which Money Woman Are You?
Four types, three minutes, no login. Take it now and keep your result in mind as you read on.
The belief worth changing
Most of us assume our relationship with money is a personality trait.
I'm just careful. I'm just bad with money. I'm not a risk person. I don't know enough.
It isn't a trait. It's a state, and it's built from at least four things.
Where you grew up. Every country teaches its own money lesson, and we learn it before we can count. In Germany, it might be the savings account. In Spain, the flat. In the Soviet Union, collapsed banks and food stamps.
What you saw at home. Who held the money, who was allowed to talk about it, and whether it was a source of safety or of fights.
How you earn it. A salary that lands on the same day every month lets your savings take more risk than you think. Commission, freelancing, a business or a bonus you can’t count on means your income is already a bet, so your savings may need to be the calm part. More on this below 👇🏼 .
Where you are in life. A new baby, a move, a divorce, a promotion, a business. Each one moves you along the risk scale, whether you notice or not.
The four types
Photo: Helena Lopes / Unsplash
Four female friends sharing a drink could easily be four different types of investors. None of them is wrong.
Preserver: safety first. Keeps most of her money in the bank, where she can see it. Likes knowing it’s there the day she needs it. Watch out for: inflation. Cash quietly buys a little less every year.
Balancer: calm growth. A core of ETFs / index funds, bonds or savings to steady the ride, maybe a few companies she knows. Keeps a safe base and checks in now and then, not every day.
Grower: the long game. Invests most of her money for the long run, in funds and shares. Happy to leave it alone for years. Mostly index funds and shares; some property funds or commodities.
Adventurer: high conviction. Picks her own bets: individual companies, startups or angel deals, some crypto. Enjoys following them, and still keeps a steady base underneath.
*Way more info about your particular type, incl. portfolio examples - in the quiz results 😉
Four types of investors here, aaaand - two weeks ago, in Edition 5, I wrote about the four types of jobs that will stay after AI conquers us all: the fast builder, the infrastructure person, the adult and the hot people. If you missed it, save it for after the quiz 😉 .
Which one you are matters for your money too. Your job type shapes how much risk you can carry, not just how much you'd like to.
The fast builder. Money arrives unevenly: bonuses, equity, projects that end. Your income is already the risky bet, so your savings may need to be the calm one.
The infrastructure person. Steady and predictable. A stable salary can carry more long-term risk than you think.
The adult. Senior and steady, sometimes with equity. Room to grow, plus concentration risk if your wealth sits in one company's shares.
The hot people. Commission, deals, relationships; good years and lean ones. Build the cushion in good years, so a lean one never forces you to sell.
I know the last one from the inside. My early career was in sales and business development, big part of it was commission and bonuses. Some months were wonderful. Some were not. And that rhythm taught me more about budgeting and cash cushions than my MBA did.
So there are two different questions. How much risk do you want? That's temperament. How much risk can your life carry? That's capacity. Your investor type sits where the two meet, and it's allowed to change.
Let's determine yours: six steps
Take the quiz. Which Money Woman Are You? Three minutes, no login, nothing leaves your phone. Answer for the money you have today, not the investor you'd like to be.
Name your post-AI job type. Fast builder, infrastructure person, adult or hot people (the four from Edition 5).
Spot the gap. Compare the two answers. A Grower by temperament with a fast builder's income may need a Preserver's cushion first. An Adventurer with no cushion isn't brave, but rather exposed. Some food for thought here.
Reflect on WHY. This year I'm a ___, because ___. History, family, work or life stage: which one is doing the deciding? If it's someone else's strategy, you'll see it here. And seeing gives you a chance to course-correct, in case needed.
Use your result. It doesn't stop at a label: after the quiz you get an example portfolio for your type and AI prompts written for it. Paste them into ChatGPT or Claude to see what your type looks like in practice. They explain rather than picking products for you. Then act on it: one small change this month beats a perfect plan you never start.
Put a date on it. Your type can expire and change. Add a yearly money check to your calendar, and retake the quiz after any big change: a child, a move, a divorce, a new job, a business. You might be surprised 😊
The proof: types move
I started as a Preserver too. Not with books ☺️, but with the same instinct: keep the money safe, keep it close, don't touch it.
What moved me was not courage. It was a steady income, a cushion I trusted, and years of watching how money actually works from the inside of companies. My circumstances changed, and my type followed.
At my money talk in Madrid in March, I asked a room full of women to take out their phones and do this quiz in the middle of the session. The room was largely international women, and there were more Growers than Balancers or Preservers. That's not the typical picture for women, I have to say.
I don't think that's a coincidence. I see more and more immigrants realize they have to be proactive with money, because moving between countries messes with your pension. Nobody builds that safety net for you. (Five countries in, I know this one personally).
There's also a sadder half to that story. Preservers may not come to a money talk at all. And they are the ones who might be missing their train.
NB: So if there's a woman in your life who you think might benefit from it (your mom, your sister, a friend), forward her this email. Three minutes might be all it takes to start the conversation.
And my mother? Migrated from Preserver to Balancer.
Started investing little by little, even though still has some ‘funds’ in the books 🙂
Your one next step
Take the quiz now: quiz.yourmoney-yourai.com. 8 questions, 3 minutes, more about your investor type, next steps, examples of portfolio to shape, and personalized prompts for your LLM or AI assistant.
Hit reply and tell me whether you enjoyed this edition, and next week I'll share how this community actually splits, anonymously of course (we don’t collect any personal data, just aggregated results).
Also next week: my first interview 🥳, with a woman who invests, big time. Many of you know her. We'll talk about gut feel, investing in AI, and teaching kids about money and AI. Keep an eye on your inbox.
With love and curiosity,
Eugenia
Who I am
I'm Eugenia, an investor in 100+ startups and a board director, formerly at Expedia and Meta.
I promised myself: no affiliate links here, no FOMO and no “hey-hey, girls, let's go”. Just what I actually do with my own money, and why.
I am not a financial advisor. I am doing my diligence in public and sharing my experience with you - but I also trust you to build and make your own.
Are we connected on LinkedIn? That's where I write about business, startups and AI.
The full archive of this newsletter is on the website.