Why making it fun to save is our best bet for healthy finances

Everyone wants decent personal finances, still 3 out of 4 young adults worry about theirs. And out of every 10 people, 9 wish that they saved more than they do. Why have we made saving so boring?

Most often when it comes to saving, there’s nothing wrong with our intentions. We want to save money and we want healthy finances. Great news, right? Well yes, except for the fact that the state of our bank accounts is not only up to our intentions. The brain wants a say too and its biological wiring makes it easy for us to fall prey to impulsive temptations and quick satisfaction. Basically, it’s hard for us to save because our brains prefer to think short-term, rather than long-term. That’s why we need to make it as fun to save as it is to spend.

There’s plenty of services out there that buys into our need for short-term thrills, you’re probably familiar with quite a few of them. These are services that want us to act impulsively by tempting us to consume now but pay later. Thus distracting us from what we really want to achieve, our saving goals.

By adding features such as ”one-click-buy” and fast, simple credit offers, digitalization has made quick consumption easy. Sadly there’s not been an equal surge of financial services offering fun and simple ways to save money. That development, in combination with our predisposition to think short-term is a poisonous cocktail. Especially for young people.

A study by credit management group Alektum shows that 3 out of 4 young adults worry about their personal finances, and that 1 out of 4 have trouble sleeping as a result of their worries.

That same study shows that 1 out of 3 young adults wouldn’t be able to handle a sudden expense of €1000.

There’s no reason why saving money couldn’t be a lot easier, and more fun. But instead of helping people cope with their biological disadvantages and make services that provide tools to take control of our finances, companies prey on our weakness. Something that rings especially true for young people.

However young people all over the world face a harsh economic reality. According to Swedish scientist Johannes Hagen earlier generations of Swedes and other western nations have enjoyed a decent life as pensioners. Generation Y on the other hand, will most likely have to fend for themselves and save towards their own pensions in a much larger capacity than before. All the while house prices keep increasing at the same time as mortgage requirements are getting tougher, putting a higher demand on savings and long-term thinking. The result is an almost impossible equation. And it’s the young who are the biggest losers.

In order for young people to obtain healthy personal finances, we need to create better conditions for them to do so. Companies as well as banks need to take their social responsibility and make services that don’t pray on our weaknesses, but that help and support sustainable saving.

The team behind Moneymind and Dreams want to initiate change. Together with university scientists Moneymind strives to increase the knowledge about how behavior and finances correlate. With the help of behavioral science and technical know-how Dreams develop financial services which help people focus on their save goals and remain motivated even when everyday life comes knocking.

Our vision is that saving will be as fun and simple as consumption is, and that no one should have a knot in their stomachs because of their economy. But in order for us to succeed, more companies and banks need to take their share of the responsibility and make savings simpler and more fun.