It has been proven that nice people will find it difficult to save money. According to a research paper called Nice Guys Finish Last: When and Why Agreeableness Is Associated With Economic Hardship, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, being nice can cost you dearly.

For the survey, Sandra Matz, Ph.D., of Columbia Business School and lead author of the study and her co-author, Joe Gladstone, Ph.D., of University College London,  analysed data collected from more than three million participants using different methods including two online panels, a national survey, bank account data, and publicly available geographic data.

Gladstone said, "We found that agreeableness was associated with indicators of financial hardship, including lower savings, higher debt, and higher default rates. 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."

Matz was quoted as saying, "We were interested in understanding whether having a nice and warm personality, what academics in personality research describe as agreeableness, was related to negative financial outcomes. Previous research suggested that agreeableness was associated with lower credit scores and income. We wanted to see if that association held true for other financial indicators and, if so, better understand why nice guys seem to finish last."

Gladstone added saying, "Not every agreeable person is at equal risk of experiencing financial hardship. The relationship was much stronger for lower-income individuals, who don’t have the financial means to compensate for the detrimental impact of their agreeable personality." The research states, "Being kind and trusting has financial costs, especially for those who do not have the means to compensate for their personalities."

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 24, 2018 01:36 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).