5 Money Mind Games to Get You on the Road to Saving Big

When it comes to how much money Americans are saving, the news isn’t pretty. The personal savings rate, as tracked by the St. Louis Fed, is just a smidge over 5 percent. To put that in perspective, in the years after the financial crisis we were routinely socking away around 7 percent, sometimes more. And right before the pandemic the savings rate tipped over 9 percent and was heading for 10 percent. So, what happened? Well, inflation for one thing. Also, rising interest rates and the evaporation of stimulus checks that were enabling us to sleep a little easier. (And we do sleep a little easier when our savings coffers are full.)

The problem with saving is not just that it’s hard, it’s that humans are innately programmed to do the opposite. Neuroscientists now have more than a decade of data showing us that when we spot something we want to buy it causes a pleasurable reaction in our brains, and when we acquire the item — whatever it happens to be — we get a rush of the feel-good chemical dopamine. That positive feedback inspires us to spend over and over again. Unfortunately, we don’t get that same kind of rush from saving.

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So, how do we get ourselves to do it on the regular? Mind games. Here are five money mind games you can play to get you on the road to saving more. 

Make it harder to spend

Today’s contactless payment world — and yes, Amazon’s one-click ordering — has made it too easy to spend mindlessly, without thinking about it. Sometimes we’re so disconnected from our cash we don’t even feel like we’re spending at all. Build yourself a barrier by simply removing your stored credit card details from apps and online retailers. (If you want to go one better, don’t memorize your credit card number; and if you’ve already memorized it request a new card.) Having to look at and then enter your details every time you want to buy something may be just the motivation you need to save a little more each month. 

Set goals — and keep visual reminders

When you don’t keep your eye on the prize — a goal that you’re saving for — it’s easier to justify spending money on whatever you want in the moment. In other words, if your brain isn’t accustomed to playing the long game, you’re wired to be in instant-gratification mode. Help yourself first by setting some short-, medium- and long-term goals. Short could be concert tickets or a weekend away. Medium might be a bathroom renovation. Long-term could be retirement in the mountains or by the shore. Then print out photos of your goals and tape them to the fridge or post them on your social media. A TD Ameritrade survey found that people who keep photos, vision boards or other images of their goals are twice as confident that they’ll reach them as those who don’t.

Take a look at future you

And while you’re looking at pictures, how would you feel about looking at one of yourself … 30 years in the future? One of the problems in trying to save money for the life you expect to live in a couple of decades is that that person, that “future you,” is a virtual stranger. It makes it tougher for you to save money for him or her. But research has found looking at an older version of your actual self, by using an age progression app, causes you to have empathy for that older you. UCLA professor Hal Hershfield, author of the new book Your Future Self: How to Make Tomorrow Better Today, found that people who looked at those aged photos of themselves tended to contribute an additional 1 percent to 2 percent to their work-based retirement plans than those who looked at a snapshot of themselves today. (P.S. Don’t be scared. I tried the AgingBooth app and it was not so bad!)