Based on your responses, you have been diagnosed as a Pretender.

Pretenders are in a world of hurt but don't know it. They are false optimists—living for today with no thought for the future. Pretenders assume that there will be time to work out all the details necessary to achieve their dreams. Even as their financial health fails, they believe in the possibility of finding miracle cures to their problems. Although such a rosy view provides a temporary high, it can lead to great pain and sadness in the future when all those dreams fail to come true. Being a pretender is perhaps the most critical money malady. Because they are in such a state of denial, pretenders often don't get help until their financial condition is fatal.

Remedies

A radical procedure might save the pretenders. Imagining vivid scenarios about what they'd like to be doing during retirement can be good medicine. Motivation may also come through focusing on future losses and regret (i.e., how much they'll suffer in retirement without enough money). Possible remedies for pretenders are:

• Spend some time thinking about what your financial goals are: what college do you want to send your children to? What do you want your lifestyle to be after retirement? Use these goals to determine how much savings you'll need to achieve those dreams.
• Talk to a financial professional and use the Internet to increase knowledge about investment options. NMFN.com has easy-to-use tools for projecting your longevity and the amount of money you'll need in retirement.
• Motivate yourself by thinking about "worst case scenarios". How will you explain your lack of savings to your spouse or children when the money isn't available for their needs? Now work backwards to figure out how to prevent those worst case scenarios from happening.

Based on your responses, you have been diagnosed as a Dreamer.

Even though they can imagine the future, dreamers feel their financial health slipping away. They might want to send their children to college, for instance, or retire in a different climate. But dreamers usually haven't taken the necessary steps to accomplish those goals. In fact, they may not even know where to start. Financial planning can appear to be complex, leading many dreamers to suffer "decision paralysis." Fortunately, it is a condition that is easily reversed, since most of us are quite capable of learning and understanding the basics of financial planning.

Remedies

Urgent care is needed. First, a financial professional should walk them through the basics of money management. Once their vital financial signs are stable and they acquire knowledge, they'll be able to make independent decisions. At that point, disciplined savings and investing practices can keep them on the road to financial health. Possible remedies for dreamers are:

• Talk to a financial professional and use the Internet to increase knowledge about investment options. NMFN.com has easy-to-use tools for projecting your longevity and the amount of money you'll need to achieve your dreams.
• Start simple and build from there. If you receive a tax refund, save it, don't spend it. Or consider reducing your withholding so that you receive more money now and a smaller tax refund next time.
• Enroll in your company retirement plan.
• Pay yourself first. Make saving and investing part of your regular budget—just like paying your electric bill. Be disciplined by automatically deducting savings from your paycheck.

Based on your responses, you have been diagnosed as a Procrastinator.

Procrastinators usually know what makes for financial health, but often find it difficult to shake unhealthy financial habits. For example, they may have been putting money into a savings account, but haven't taken steps which would allow that money to grow. Their primary reason for not actively managing their money is procrastination. But each additional day that goes by without properly investing incurs a real cost, since it prevents money from growing as much as it could.

Remedies

Procrastinators need a dose of disciplined investing, since postponing decisions may be their biggest downfall. By setting up an automatic transfer of savings into other investment products, for example, they "force" themselves to make a commitment and can achieve progress. Possible remedies for procrastinators are:

• Talk to the experts. Meet with an accountant, lawyer, insurance representative, or other financial professional. They can serve as your "personal trainers," helping you stick to a healthy financial regimen.
• Use the Internet to help you define a plan. NMFN.com has easy-to-use tools for calculating what you'll need to protect and secure your lifestyle.
• Impose some discipline on your savings habits. For example, you may want to consider using automatic deductions from your paycheck to build your savings.
• Find painless opportunities to save; for example, consider saving just one more percentage point at raise time and you won't even miss it.

Based on your responses, you have been diagnosed as a Goal-Setter.

Goal setters place a top priority on financial well-being. They know what they want from their future, they've created a detailed plan of what it will take to achieve those dreams, and they've taken most of the necessary steps to get there. However, that doesn't mean that the outcome is assured or that their job is done. Good financial health requires regular exercise: that involves both reviewing plans (to see if any assumptions have changed) and investment results (to check actual performance against forecasts, or to see if any re-balancing is necessary). Without regular checkups, even the best laid plans can go astray.

Remedies

Maintaining a sound financial plan takes time and effort. Asking an investment professional to provide an objective look can make the process more efficient and help investors feel more confident. Possible remedies for goal-setters are:

• Get an annual check-up by reviewing the performance of your investments
• Don't rest on your laurels—keep increasing your savings
• Seek the counsel of experts; get an fresh perspective in the form of a second opinion