Liz Weston: Feel out of control? These money moves can help
Behavioral economist Dan Ariely and his colleagues at Duke University’s Center for Advanced Hindsight have a pact. Every week, the group of 50 people picks one small business in Durham, North Carolina, and each person spends $100 there.
A one-time $5,000 infusion wouldn’t make a difference to Amazon, Costco or any other large retailer, but it could be enough to keep a local business afloat, Ariely says. Taking this action helps the group feel that they’re making a difference when so much of the world seems out of control.
“This is, to a large degree, a crisis of Main Street,” says Ariely, the bestselling author of books including “Predictably Irrational.” “We’re taking a retailer and we’re saying, ‘We’re giving you a little bit of breathing room.’”
Massive unemployment, a volatile stock market and a potentially prolonged recession related to the pandemic have left many Americans feeling helpless and fearful about the future.
“There are so many things we don’t have control over and can’t predict,” says Ariely, who also serves as the chief behavioral economist for the banking app Qapital. “And living without control is a very tough thing.”
But Ariely suggests that we can use insights from behavioral economics — which studies the psychological, emotional and cognitive factors that influence our decisions — to wrest back some control.
BOOSTING A SENSE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT
Ariely recommends looking for areas where you can measure progress. For example, walking is good exercise, but you’re not going to feel much improvement over time, he says.
“On the other hand, if you do a pushup, every few days you can do another pushup,” Ariely says. “You would feel a sense of accomplishment, you will feel a sense of control.”
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