Why being too nice can spell doom for your bank balance

NICE people are more likely to struggle with their finances, says a study.

People with warm personalities are at higher risk of going bankrupt, having lower savings and higher debt.

They are also more likely to default on debt than grumpy people, the research into more than three million Britons and Americans found.

Even children who were nicer ended up suffering greater financial hardship later in life as adults.

The study was compiled from the BBC’s 2011 Big Personality Test, as well as bank account and geographical data. Researchers discovered that people who were identified as more agreeable in psychological tests tended to have higher rates of insolvency.

For instance, North Devon and Mid-

dlesbrough have an average gross annual income per head of £20, 72, lower than the national average.

People in North Devon were about 10 per cent more agreeable than in Middlesbrough. However, 38.66 adults per 10,000 people in North Devon went insolvent, compared to 2 .69 in Middlesbrough.

Researcher Dr Sandra Matz, of Columbia Business School, told the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: ‘We were interested in understanding whether having a nice and warm personality was related to negative financial outcomes.’ Co-researcher Dr Joe Gladstone, of University College London, said: ‘This relationship appears to be driven by the fact that agreeable people simply care less about money and therefore are at higher risk of money mismanagement.’

‘Agreeable people care less about cash’