New research says that nicer people are poorer than people who are not so nice. Researchers looked at how our personalities affected how rich we were. They found that people with a nice personality were financially worse off than more selfish people. Kinder people found it more difficult to look after their money. A researcher said this was because of the "agreeableness" of kinder, more trusting and more caring people. He said agreeableness was linked to different examples of financial hardship. These included lower savings, higher debt and an inability to repay debt.
Researchers looked at data from different sources, including online surveys taken by 4,000 people. The data included information about people's financial situations, their debt, and their attitude towards money. They compared this data with surveys in which people answered questions about their personality and agreeableness. The researchers said agreeable people seemed to care less about money and so did not look after their money wisely. A researcher said being kind and trusting had "financial costs". She wanted to better understand, "why nice guys seem to finish last".