Willpower, the well-meant angel on our shoulder, has an extremely tough job to tend to. It’s the over-seer of so many things we’d rather forget: our budget, eating plan, or exercise routine. Despite how hard it works to keep us on the right path, it usually can’t stand up to our whims and cravings.
Saving money isn’t easy. It’s something we all struggle with.
When it comes to money, the result of our ability to silence our willpower is an instant gratification mentality and a financial foundation that is rocky at best.
Fortunately, there are other ways to save money that don’t require a constant battl. Here are a few.
Make it automatic
Decision fatigue is real. It’s something the majority of us suffer from every day without us even knowing it.
The more decisions you give yourself – including how much to save each month – the easier it becomes to make a decision that doesn’t take the larger picture into consideration.
This phenomenon studied by social psychologists is best summarized in this article from the New York Times:
The more choices you make throughout the day, the harder each one becomes for your brain, and eventually it looks for shortcuts, usually in either of two very different ways. One shortcut is to become reckless: to act impulsively instead of expensing the energy to first think through the consequences. The other shortcut is the ultimate energy saver: do nothing.
Instead of allowing for reckless decision-making, or no decision at all, decide how much you are able to save each month and set up direct deposit into an account of your choosing. Set it and forget it (for the most part).
Get help and create a plan
Saving blindly is better than not saving at all, but many who sock money away without a plan aren’t able to reach the finish line they’re working towards.
When it comes to saving for retirement – perhaps the most important and substantial pot of money you’ll need to amass in your lifetime – studies show retirement plan participants spent less time planning their golden years than their next vacation.
In addition, those who didn’t work with a financial professional saved less than those who did seek out help and advice.
Many of us – myself included – won’t put our all into saving for something until the guesswork is gone and we know the value of our actions. Having an in-person conversation with someone knowledgeable can help drive the point home even further.
Find creative ways to hold yourself accountable
One of the main reasons we enjoy spending more than saving is that the instant gratification caused by spending physically feels better than the delayed reward of saving. So a large part of saving more is changing the way spending makes us feel.
Ryan T. Howell Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Psychology at San Francisco State University, suggests cutting down the good feeling of shopping by requiring yourself to write down or track every purchase you make.
According to Howell, “People report to us that when they’re shopping without a plan, without having to track, it’s an emotional experience – they get a lot of enjoyment out of the actual process of shopping. Just the knowledge that they’re later going to have to track it makes it much more difficult to make emotional, spur-of-the-moment purchases.”
Connect with your future self
We have a tendency to think of our future selves as strangers, as if we’ll morph into someone entirely new once we start aging. Our apathy towards saving cements this idea – after all, if we recognized pieces of ourselves today in our future selves, we’d surely be better at saving.
Unfortunately, our future self is relying solely on our present self for a strong financial foundation, and it’s up to us to connect to that person before it’s too late.
Merrill Edge is working to bridge the gap with something they call Face Retirement. Upload your photo and they will allow you to “meet the future you.”
If a physical representation isn’t enough to ignite that spark, try thinking of your future self with the same love and care as you would your parents or other aging family members. It’s up to you to create the kind of life you would want for them.
Conclusion
While willpower means well, it’s simply not strong enough to fight back against all of the pressures we face everyday and all of the decisions we make to pacify our cravings. But in recognizing where it falls short, we can fill in the gaps and ensure our financial future looks bright. It’s possible – I promise.
SOURCE: ReadyForZero Blog – Read entire story here.
