You’re Hardwired by Nature to Spend–Here’s How You Can Get Around that & Save More

Feel guilty about your spending habits? Here’s some good and bad news.

According to financial psychologist and planner Dr. Brad Klontz, that urge to spend is part of our genetics as people. Apparently, we are wired to enjoy the now and consume as much as possible.

Unfortunately, this part of our nature as humans makes it difficult for us to do things like saving for the future. Klontz assures us though that we can find a workaround for this tendency so that we can achieve financial goals.

For him, it’s all about picturing things.

Picture It

jakkapan/Shutterstock: Create a vision board filled with photos related to saving or retirement that evoke positive emotions to motivate you

Since humans are hardwired to keep things as they are, changing would take a lot of work. Klontz particularly advises people to get an emotional attachment to your saving goals by clearing exactly what or who for you’re saving.

To help you keep up this enthusiasm, it’s recommended that you search for and look at images that spark an emotional response from you as Behavioral Cents CEO Carrie Rattle said.

She explained that a simple picture can help you realize what would make you happy. The photo is important, Rattle said, as you won’t always be capable of imagining the vision on your own.

Planning Ahead

Ruslan Ivantsov/Shutterstock: Seeing your end goal clearly would help you remember the specific changes you need to make to get there

To take things a step further, you can even start planning that vacation you’ve been saving for to make it real.

Dream of going to Europe? Envision your trip and list the specific places you’d like to visit or the experiences you’d like to have when you do go there.

This would help you get an idea of how much money you’d need for the trip and better plan your saving strategy to reach your goal. Say you’d need $5,000 in total, break that down into smaller amounts you can set aside weekly or monthly.

Law of Attraction

Flamingo Images/Shutterstock: the law of attraction also encouraged thinking positive thoughts to replace limiting negative thoughts

The law of attraction may sound like something that won’t work in reality but it’s all about how you interpret it.

One interpretation of it, as Rattle pointed out, is wanting a green apple and focusing on that goal daily. Some would say that this desire would let the ‘universe’ know that you want one and give you one.

The more realistic interpretation of the law of attraction is the sharpening of awareness that happens when you start focusing on something. Knowing what you want, you’d likely spend time thinking about it and eventually do the necessary actions to get it.