Change bad spending habits in 5 steps | Your Brain on Money

Addicted to spending money you want to save? Here’s how to stop.

About 40% of the things you do each day are habits. Because we don't maintain conscious control over our habits, bad ones can be hard to break.

Habits are a way for our brain to utilize fewer resources to accomplish a task that we perform repetitively.

Many of our financial decisions are based on habits. So, to make better financial decisions, we need to cultivate good habits.

0:00 Making your habits visible to you
1:22 The neuroscience of habits
3:13 What bad and good habits do people have?
4:43 5 specific actions to build better habits

We created this video in partnership with @MillionStoriesMedia

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[bigthink]

What's a habit you'd like to change?

[miguelsoler]

the habit of that guy is speaking in x2 speed

[bobbyspanino]

Oddly enough, the more people I tell I’m going to do something, the more I want to do the opposite of what I tell them.

[khalidalali]

I used to order takeouts everyday. Now I shop for groceries once a month, and ended up spending 8.3% of what I used to spend on food when ordering via Deliveroo, in 2022 alone.

[mrcuttime]

DIY will save you a LOT of money. Instead of buying that latte, buy a mocha pot and create your favorite lattes before you even leave the house! Similarly, there are many things we can learn to do ourselves, esp. from FREE YouTube videos that cost much less. Remember: Starbucks is not even "real" coffee. I don't even go there anymore and have saved myself THOUSANDS of dollars.

[prometheus]

Watching this video makes me realize that I don't have money to buy things, but at least now I know what to do if I got money.

[NottooShaw]

If any of you were interested in the habit side of things, like how they work, how they affect us and how to change them, I highly recommend 'The Power of Habit'. It's an insightful book and a really fun read.

[JallenMeodia]

Whoever edited this needs to break the habit of constantly flipping between close-ups and wide shots.

[jimallen]

“… moved from hacking computers to hacking brains.” Does that mean there is more in common with AI and humans than we like to accept? Are we humans more programmed or algorithmic than we like to think? If habits prove us automatons, what are the tests of intelligence, consciousness, creativity? Do we apply these tests equally to persons as we do other animals as we do AI?

[Josh-gecr]

I think she meant the power of compounding when you save 50 bucks a month and throw it in the S&P 500, not a savings account haha. A high yield savings account is around 4%, which is better than the .1% you're getting elsewhere.

[mariuszszymczak]

I love to always find new way to save money.

[raymondtendau]

"All big things come from small beginnings. The seed of every habit is a single, tiny decision. But as that decision is repeated, a habit sprouts and grows stronger. Roots entrench themselves and branches grow. The task of breaking a bad habit is like uprooting a powerful oak within us. And the task of building a good habit is like cultivating a delicate flower one day at a time.

Behaviour that is incongruent with the self will not last. You may want more money, but if your identity is someone who consumes rather than creates, then you will continuously be pulled towards spending rather than earning. You may want better health, but if you continue to prioritize comfort over accomplishment, you all be drawn to relaxing rather than training."
ATOMIC HABITS
-JAMES CLEAR

[maurad]

Grocery store foods purchased because I deserve it today. I’m stressed. I’ll work on my diet tomorrow. Nobody cares anyway. It tastes so good.

[scottsteele]

This was a really good video. When I was in safety we used phycology to change people’s safety habits and it worked. In one year the safety program based on behavior saved my company 13 million dollars.

I do okay with money. I am debt free and have savings, but I could do better.

[penguingobrrbrr]

What would life be if someone is hyper focused on saving money so that he can invest in future and make or at least hold its value so he got valuable things to fall back on if something happens instead of spending everything you get ?>
I think this is just the best life you could possibly get from an average person and potentially moving up in the social ladders but these things don't happen overnight unfortunately and that is what makes you a better and optimistic person.

[gjjstjgwejk]

feels like they did that guy kinda dirty with the subtitles lol, i understood him just fine

[sunnywang]

Thanks for such an inspiring video. I'm gonna tweak my spending habits from this point on.

[a.h.i]

im only 17 and im already so bad at spending money. $970 on clothing in the past year $129 on food just this year alone- its so intoxicating and stupid. im so mad at myself. i worked so hard for that money only to spend it on dumb things.

[straaths]

My money have this habit called inflation. They got so skilled, they call it hyperinflation now.

I tried to cure it with a new habit called investment, but the stock went down.

So now I own hyperinflated money and stocks. Thank you!

[alexanderturner]

"Financial Therapists"? LMAO!