3 psychological tricks to help you save money | The Way We Work, a TED series

譯者: Lilian Chiu 審譯者: Bighead Ge

我們都知道存錢是很重要的，

也是我們我們該做的。

但，整體來說， 我們做得越來越少。

〔我們做事的方式〕

我們知道我們得做什麼。

問題是：我們要怎麼做？

那就是我要來教導各位的。

你的存錢行為和你有多聰明、 有多少意志力都無關。

我們存的金額會因 我們周圍的環境暗示而異。

讓我舉例說明。

我們做了一項研究，針對一組人，

讓他們看他們的月收入資料。

針對另一組人，讓他們 看他們的週收入資料。

我們發現，看到週收入的人

一整個月的預算安排會比較理想。

請注意，我們並沒有 改變大家得到的金額，

我們只是改變了環境， 也就是他們了解收入的方式。

像這樣的環境暗示是有影響的。

我不打算分享各位已經知道的訣竅。

我不打算告訴各位如何開存款帳戶，

或如何為退休開始存錢。

我要跟各位分享的是如何拉近

你的存錢意圖 和你的行動之間的距離。

準備好了嗎？

第一點：

利用預先承諾的力量。

基本上，我們會用 兩種方式來看自己：

現在的自己和未來的自己。

在未來，我們很完美。

在未來，我們會為了退休而存錢，

我們會減重，我們會 更常打電話給父母。

但我們通常會忘記，未來的我們

和現在的我們其實是同一個人。

我們知道，存錢最好的時機之一 就是在拿到納稅申報單時。

所以我們做了一項 A／B 測試。

針對第一組，我們在二月初 就傳文字訊息給大家，

希望是在他們報稅之前就傳。

我們問他們：

「如果你得到退稅， 會把多少百分比存起來？」

這個問題很難回答。

他們不知道是否會得到退稅， 也不知道會退多少錢。

但我們還是問了這個問題。

針對第二組，我們是在大家 拿到退稅之後立刻問：

「你會把多少百分比存起來？」

結果如下。

在第二種條件下， 在大家剛拿到退稅時，

他們會想要存的錢是 大約 17% 的退稅。

但若我們在大家報稅之前 就先詢問的話，

在二月時問，想存起來的比率

從 17% 增加到 27%。

為什麼？因為你在 替你未來的自己作承諾，

當然，未來的你可以存 27% 起來。

存錢行為之所以 會有這麼大的改變，

是因為我們改變了決策的環境。

我們希望各位能用同樣的力量。

所以，花點時間，

想想看你有什麼方式 可以讓未來的你承諾

去做現在的你覺得有點難做到的事。

註冊一個應用程式， 讓你能事先做存錢的決定。

訣竅是，你得要 有一份有約束力的合約。

第二點：善用轉換時刻來幫助你。

我們針對一個網站做了實驗，

該網站是在幫年長成人 共享他們的住房。

我們在社交媒體上登兩種廣告，

目標族群都是六十四歲的人。

在第一組中，我們說： 「嘿，你越來越老了，

你準備好退休了嗎？ 住房分享能幫上忙。」

在第二組中，我們做得比較明確，

說：「你即將從六十四歲 邁入六十五歲。

你準備好退休了嗎？ 住房分享能幫上忙。」

我們對第二組所做的事，

是在強調轉變正在發生。

突然間，

在強調這點之後，我們發現點擊率

及最後的註冊率都增加了。

在心理學中，我們稱之為 「全新開始效應」。

不論是新的一年開始 或甚至新的一季開始，

你採取行動的動機會增加。

所以，現在在你的日曆上， 你生日的前一天，

安排一個會議。

就財務方面，找出 你最想要做的一件事。

讓你自己承諾去做。

第三項，也是最後一項訣竅：

掌握小型且頻繁的購買。

我們做了幾項不同的研究，

發現大家在看到銀行帳單後 最後悔的購買行為，

是外食。

這是我們幾乎天天 會做的購買行為，

這是凌遲到死。

這裡買杯咖啡，那裡買個捲餅……

全部加起來，就減損了 我們存錢的能力。

我之前住在紐約市時，

我看著我的支出費用，

發現我花了超過兩千美元 在汽車共乘應用程式上。

So now that I was 4,000 dollars in the hole, I did two things.

那比我在紐約市的房租還貴。

我發誓要改變。

The first is that I unlinked my credit card

下個月，我又花了兩千美元——

from my car-sharing apps.

沒有改變，因為我的行為不會 只因為得到花費資訊就改變。

Instead, I linked a debit card that only had 300 dollars a month.

我沒有改變我的環境。

If I needed more,

所以，既然已經花掉了 四千美元，我做了兩件事。

I had to go through the whole process of adding a new card,

and we know that every click, every barrier, changes our behavior.

We all know that saving is important

and is something that we should be doing.

And yet, overall, we're doing less and less of it.

[The Way We Work]

We know what we need to do.

The question is: How do we do it?

And that's what I'm here to teach you.

Your savings behavior isn't a question of how smart you are

or how much willpower you have.

The amount we save depends on the environmental cues around us.

Let me give you an example.

We ran a study in which, in one group,

we showed people their income on a monthly basis.

In another group, we showed people their income on a weekly basis.

And what we found was that people who saw their income on a weekly basis

were able to budget better throughout the month.

Now, it's important to know

that we didn't change how much money people were receiving,

we just changed the environment in which they understood their income.

And environmental cues like this have an impact.

So I'm not going to share tricks with you that you already know.

I'm not going to tell you how to open up a savings account

or how to start saving for your retirement.

What I am going to share with you is how to bridge this gap

from your intentions to save

and your actions.

Are you ready?

Here's number one:

harness the power of pre-commitment.

Fundamentally, we think about ourselves in two different ways:

our present self and our future self.

In the future, we're perfect.

In the future, we're going to save for retirement,

we're going to lose weight,

we're going to call our parents more.

But we oftentimes forget that our future self

is exactly the same person as our present self.

We know that one of the best times to save is when you get your tax return.

So we tried an A/B test.

In the first group, we texted people in early February,

hopefully before they even filed for their taxes.

And we asked them,

"If you get a tax refund, what percentage would you like to save?"

Now this is a really hard question.

They didn't know if they would receive a tax refund or how much.

But we asked the question anyway.

In the second group, we asked people right after they received their refund,

"What percentage would you like to save?"

Now, here's what happened.

In that second condition, when people just received their tax refund,

they wanted to save about 17 percent of their tax refund.

But in the condition when we asked people before they even filed their taxes,

savings rates increased from 17 percent to 27 percent

when we asked in February.

Why?

Because you're committing for your future self,

and of course your future self can save 27 percent.

These large changes in savings behavior

came from the fact that we changed the decision-making environment.

We want you to be able to harness that same power.

So take a moment

and think about the ways in which you can sign up your future self

for something that you know today will be a little bit hard.

Sign up for an app that lets you make savings decisions in advance.

The trick is, you have to have that binding contract.

Number two: use transition moments to your advantage.

We did an experiment with a website

that helps older adults share their housing.

We ran two ads on social media,

targeted to the same population of 64-year-olds.

In one group, we said, "Hey, you're getting older.

Are you ready for retirement?

House sharing can help."

In the second group, we got a little bit more specific

and said, "You're 64 turning 65.

Are you ready for retirement?

House sharing can help."

What we're doing in that second group

is highlighting that a transition is happening.

All of a sudden,

we saw click-through rates, and ultimately sign-up rates, increase

when we highlight that.

In psychology, we call this the "fresh start effect."

Whether it's the start of a new year or even a new season,

your motivation to act increases.

So right now, put a meeting request on your calendar

for the day before your next birthday.

Identify the one financial thing you most want to do.

And commit yourself to it.

The third and final trick:

get a handle on small, frequent purchases.

We've run a few different studies

and found that the number one purchase people say they regret, after bank fees,

is eating out.

It's a frequent purchase we make almost every day,

and it's death by a thousand cuts.

A coffee here, a burrito there ...

It adds up and decreases our ability to save.

Back when I lived in New York City,

I looked at my expenses

and saw that I spent over 2,000 dollars on ride-sharing apps.

It was more than my New York City rent.

I vowed to make a change.

And the next month, I spent 2,000 dollars again --

no change, because the information alone didn't change my behavior.

I didn't change my environment.

第一，我從汽車共乘應用程式上

解除了綁定的信用卡。

We aren't machines.

取而代之，我綁定了簽帳金融卡， 一個月只有三百美元額度。

We don't carry around an abacus every day,

adding up what we're spending, in comparison to what we wanted.

如果需要更多錢，

我就得要進行很煩雜的過程 去新增一張卡片，

But what our brains are very good at

我們知道，每一次點擊、 每一個障礙，

is counting up the number of times we've done something.

都會改變我們的行為。

我們不是機器。

So I gave myself a limit.

我們不會每天把算盤帶在身邊，

I can only use ride-sharing apps three times a week.

把我們的花費加起來， 跟我們希望的金額做比較。

It forced me to ration my travels.

但我們的大腦非常擅長一件事，

I got a handle on my car-sharing expenses to the benefit of my husband,

那就是計算我們某件事做了幾次。

because of the environmental changes that I did.

所以我給我自己一個限額。

So get a handle on whatever that purchase is for you,

我一週只能用汽車 共享應用程式三次。

and change your environment to make it harder to do so.

這個限制強迫我 把我的旅程合理化。

Those are my tips for you.

因為我所做的環境改變，

But I want you to remember one thing.

讓我能掌握我的汽車共乘花費， 我老公也因此受惠。

As human beings, we can be irrational when it comes to saving

所以，不論你購買的 是什麼，掌控好它，

and spending and budgeting.

並改變你的環境，讓你 更難去做這項購買行為。

But luckily, we know this about ourselves,

and we can predict how we'll act under certain environments.

那些是我提供各位的密技。

但，我希望大家記住一件事。

Let's do that with saving.

身為人，我們可能 無法很理性地去存錢、

Let's change our environment to help our future selves.

花錢，及編預算，

但幸運的是，我們自己知道這狀況，

我們能夠預測我們之後 在某種環境中的行為。

咱們把它用在存錢上。

咱們來改變我們的環境， 來協助未來的自己。