Needing Rewards To Save As Opposed To Spending

Today I was reading about this site called Saveup.com which by the sounds of it is kind of like a rewards program where instead of being a program focused in rewarding you for purchases it tries to reward you for doing things such as saving money or paying off a debt. I don’t think I could try this to see how it is as it sounds like it is US based only, but it sure made me wonder if these types of rewards can encourage people to save if something like gaining interest at a bank isn’t a good enough motivator to put money in it.

It does seem like they are trying to make saving and managing your money more like a game. So in some ways I suppose it’s one of those if you treat something as being more fun rather than work then you are more inclined to do it. I guess for some it’s like exercising where while for many your health is a good enough motivator to do so for many they need to package it in a different way to motivate them them to do so. Interesting idea overall.

I was talking to a person who was fairly young and he actually ran his own business. He still lived with his family and all too. Since his business is doing very well and his living expenses aren’t massive he usually has an excess amount of money at the end of the week. Not surprisingly, at times it seems like he doesn’t know what to do with it and so it is either spent on things like dining out or even gambling.

What is funny I thought is that usually for like myself when it comes to spending money I would think “Is it worth it” or “How much return can I get” whereas it seemed like for him in many cases it is more like “If I don’t spend it here I would there anyways” and so he just ends up using his money. I suppose it’s hard to break a habit like that in his scenario as he has an excess amount of money coming in and there is no real need for him to change when you think about it.

I know one person who broke that habit by simply getting a hobby of all things. Strange huh? You would think that you would need to work hard to show them the importance of saving for the the future and all. But really, just doing something that occupied his time more for when it is not business time worked like a charm. No reason why this couldn’t work too for most other people if there are people you are struggling with to try to change their financial habits.

I was looking at this Walmart flyer today where the store seems to be having an anniversary sale and there were some very cheap prices for grocery items. Most of it were processed foods where even though I normally wouldn’t buy too many of them the lure of things like a large bag of frozen fries for one dollar tends to make you say “why not” in trying it out.

Overall I know it would be a waste of money though and I usually just convince myself to not to do it as I am usually saving for something bigger where one dollar out means getting that item slower. That’s usually how I end up with all of the more expensive stuff where people think I must be over spending to get them. Really though, you probably spend more in a year if you usually buy things because of sales like those. So maybe saving up for something bigger is all you need too to help discipline yourself.

I was reading an opinion piece when it came to saving money for the future such as when one planned to retire. Essentially, it was expressing how usually when people start saving for the future they only think of the total funds based on what the current cost of living is. Therefore, when you factor in things like inflation those funds that you thought was a lot could end up being miniscule.

For myself, I save money for the most part because I don’t want to just throw away all that time I invested into earning it on just anything. In terms of saving for say an idea of retiring like fifty years later, for me it’s about an investment in that scenario. Basically, working hard now to create something where even at that age I can semi create some kind of income stream to adapt to the current cost of living as necessary.

Unless you are pretty certain you can save up say two million, basically an amount that is absurdly high, I personally don’t think it is satisfactory to just save up such small amounts with the thought that you can just rest and do nothing at that point.

Everyone here is gearing up for tax refund time and of course many have already planned on how they are going to spend it already. For myself, when I get these kinds of funds I usually just deposit it as I always like to look at how much funds I have in total before deciding anything. I usually find that you are more inclined to take your spending habits more seriously this way too.

For example, imagine that tax refund has just made it so that you now have over $10,000 in raw cash in the savings. Spending $500 on something and losing that milestone figure can be a huge deal in some funny ways as it is like you are throwing away an accomplishment. With that in mind, if you are doing so the purchase should be really worth it.

People often say that it eventually becomes a challenge to see how much higher you can get that number to. I guess you can say too, this way you are placing more value to what you have built as well.