We write a lot about investing, but, obviously, before you can invest, you have to save. Unfortunately, knowing this is true does not always make it easy to do. Bottom line, saving is a sacrifice. When you set aside money for tomorrow, you do not get to spend it today. There is nothing fun about that.
Saving is also not as “exciting” as investing. When you invest, the stakes can be high: Some strike it rich, others suffer calamitous losses, and either makes for great headlines. In contrast, your basic savings account is unremarkable. It is unlikely to either grow wildly or vanish overnight.
No wonder most people are far more attuned to their investment efforts than their saving strategies. There is never a lack of analysts covering the latest market news, or experts opining on what to do about it. Whether the coverage is good, bad, or ugly, there is always plenty of it.
When was the last time someone reminded you how incredibly powerful it can be to simply keep adding new money to your accounts, no matter what the market is doing? Saving is important throughout your life, and an absolute super power when you or your loved ones are younger, with time on your side.
Give your savings a nudge
It is easy to cast our human psychological biases as the bad guys when it comes to saving. But our biases do not have to hurt us. In “Nudge: The Final Edition,” Nobel Laureate Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein describe scores of ways you can use your biases to nudge you toward making better decisions about your wealth, health, and well-being.
“A nudge … alters people’s behavior in a predictable way without forbidding any options or significantly changing their economic incentives. To count as a mere nudge, the intervention must be easy and cheap to avoid. Nudges are not taxes, fines, subsidies, bans, or mandates. Putting the fruit at eye level counts as a nudge. Banning junk food does not.”
Others can nudge you, as Thaler and Sunstein describe, or you can nudge yourself. For example, would you like to save more, but you are having a hard time shaking loose the change? Consider using inertia as a force for good.
Embrace your inertia
It is well established that most of us tend to stick with the status quo whenever possible. Thaler and Sunstein have dubbed this our “yeah, whatever” bias.
But inertia can be expensive. For example, if you let a streaming service keep charging you long after you have stopped using it, that is wealth-wasting inertia. But you can also use inertia to your advantage, by setting up saving habits and processes on auto-pilot, so they “just happen.”
The idea is, you are far more likely to save more effectively once you no longer have to make a choice or take action to shift funds from your spendable coffers to your savings stash. For example, when your company auto-enrolls you in its 401(k) retirement plan, for heaven’s sake, let them. You can also make a one-time choice to maximize the percentage you are contributing. After that, inertia will kick in, making it less likely you will skip or skimp on saving for the future. Self-service savings
You can set up similar, inertia-based saving habits by making a pledge to yourself that any “new” money coming your way will receive similar treatment. For example, establish a rule that you will always set aside 10%, 20%, or whatever works for you, whenever you receive a raise, bonus, or equity compensation from work; a tax refund; a gift or inheritance; Social Security COLA increases; prize or lottery winnings; proceeds from subscriptions you have canceled (despite your inertia); cash from a yard sale; or any other one-time or ongoing income bumps.
“Saving is important throughout your life, and an absolute super power when you or your loved ones are younger, with time on your side.”
You can establish a savings account specifically for this purpose, like a bank-based “change jar.” These days, there are even apps to ease the way. For example, in The Wall Street Journal’s, “35 Ways to Jump-Start Your Emergency Savings,” financial advisor Taylor Schulte suggests using a spare change savings app like Acorns to round up all your credit card charges to the nearest dollar and regularly drop the difference into a savings account. “It might only be 25 cents here and there,” Schulte says, “but it can quickly add up over time” (although he suggests making sure excessive app fees don’t defeat the purpose).
In his post, “A Simple Hack for Building Positive Habits,” financial strategist John Jennings describes using a commitment app like StickK to, well, stick to your habits—including saving. You make a promise to yourself, and if you break it (honor system), the app takes some money from you. The money can go to a charity of your choice. Or, in an intriguing twist, you can name a cause you abhor, an “anti-charity,” to which the money will go. As Jennings describes: “You choose an organization that you oppose and that would make you sick to your stomach to fund. I chose a PAC that supports a politician I despise.” Having to donate to your worst anti-charity might be a strong nudge to stick to your savings plan!
The restorative powers of saving
So, do you often watch the markets bouncing up, down, and all around, wondering whether the pundits of gloom or glory are correct? Please remember, there is not much you can do to prevent market uncertainty. But you can save. You should save. You should keep saving. If you have not been, we understand that change is hard. Thanks to behavioral biases, going with the flow usually seems easier, even if you are dissatisfied with where it is taking you. But you can turn your biases on their head by putting them to work for you rather than against you. By pairing your saving goals with inertia-based rules and processes, you are far more likely to succeed.