If you blame the way you think for your bad habits with money then you may now have science to back you up. A study has found that a particular gene can make people worse at maintaining self-control and this translates into bad habits with spending.
According to Dr. Hersh Shefrin, only 25% of the population are born with the ‘good’ variant of the gene.
However, there are ways you can trick your brain into being smarter with money:
- Adopt a mantra that you aren’t allowed to break. A good example is ‘I never buy things without looking for a cheaper option’.
- Take your savings from your pay cheque. By removing the money from your pay before it ever arrives in your account you’ll then only think about spending the money that you have.
- Make a plan and stick to it. Planning to pay a certain amount of your debt off each month and sticking to this is a great way to trick your brain into being more reserved about spending.
Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/learnvest/2013/07/29/4-psychological-tricks-that-can-banish-bad-money-habits/2/
