Does your Myers-Briggs personality type affect your earnings? Some research says yes.
Many of us have taken the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Test at some point in our lives. The personality test was designed by the mother and daughter team, Katherine Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers, based on the work of Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Carl Gustav Jung. It works by asking you a bunch of questions about how you perceive the world and make decisions, then assigns you one of 16 personality types.
Some personality types earn more than others
The types are based on four categories: Introversion/Extraversion, Sensing/Intuition, Thinking/Feeling, Judging/Perception. You can read more about the 16 types here since we’d have to write a really long article to explain the whole thing. But essentially they’re combinations of those four things, like INFJ (Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Judging) or ESFP (Extroverted, Sensing, Feeling, Perceiving). (with “N” standing for “Intuition” to avoid confusion with “Introversion.”)
What does it mean? Well, that’s a subject always up for discussion. But it turns out that one personality type may have more earning potential than the others, at least at the beginning of their careers. This shouldn’t come as a huge surprise. Obviously, certain personality traits are going to make some people higher earners than others. But what are they?
“Extroverted, intuitive, thinking, judging.”
Research conducted by Truity Psychometrics (via The Motley Fool), found that people with the personality type ENTJ make more money than any other type early in their careers. ENTJs earn an average of $59,993 a year compared with INFPs, who are the lowest earners and make just $33,736 a year. But things change somewhat over time, so don’t despair.
What does ENTJ stand for? It stands for “Extroverted, Intuitive, Thinking, Judging.”
According to Truity, the ENTJ is known as “The Commander.” The website explains, “ENTJs are strategic leaders, motivated to organize change. They quickly see inefficiency, conceptualize new solutions, and enjoy developing long-range plans to accomplish their vision. They excel at logical reasoning and are usually articulate and quick-witted.”
They do sound like high earners, don’t they?
As people age and enter their 40s, however, ENTPs become the biggest earners. ENTP is “The Visionary” and is described like this: “ENTPs are inspired innovators, motivated to find new solutions to intellectually challenging problems. They are curious and clever and seek to comprehend the people, systems, and principles that surround them.
Earnings change over time
Truity explains that ENTJs tend to be the highest earners overall, but are later eclipsed by late-blooming ENTPs, “who are fairly average earners until they reach their stride in middle age and become the highest-earning types of all.” Meanwhile, ESTP, INTJ, and INTP are also late bloomers who tend to earn the highest incomes in their fifties.
All four of the “Introverted” and “Intuitive” types (INFJ, INFP, INTJ, and INTP) are more likely to spend time pursuing higher education, which, says Truity, might explain why INTJs and INTPs are slow starters when it comes to making money.
So, if you haven’t reached your earning potential yet, there may still be time! If you put stock in this sort of thing. To see where your earnings stack up against provincial and industry averages, check out this post which dives into what Canadians are earning by province and industry.
Of course, this is only one tool. And it’s probably best not to take it too seriously. Still, if you’re curious, you can take the test here.