This is the third part of the series on the psychology of why we struggle to save money. The two previous parts in the series covered the social psychology and the consumer psychology. This article is all about the consumer in our genes and that which helps part us with our money.

The two previous posts gave a lot of credit to the psychological tricks that marketers use to influence us and the more cultural influences around us. Now it’s time to focus on some very internal driving forces. This will include the following factors:

  • Where Does Our Impulse To Consume Come From?
  • How Are Our Impulses Regulated?
  • How Does This Translate To The Modern Day?
  • What Can We Do About This?

The Natural Impulse To Consume

The impulse to spend money and consume can be traced to the older reptilian parts of the brain and nervous system. More specifically the feelings of reward originate in the Ventral Tegmental area. This area of the brain has dopaminergic neurons which project to other areas of the brain, including:

  • Amygdala (emotions)
  • Nucleus accumbens (motor functions)
  • Pre-frontal cortex (decision making)
  • Hippocampus (memories)

Essentially, reward seeking and consumer behaviour is a conditioned system. It is directed by a positive relation between the mesocorticolimbic dopamine (DA) learned reward-directed behaviour.

Essentially, this means that we are very sensitive to building up reward circuity whenever we make a purchase or consume a product. Making it difficult to resist buying things and therefore making it a struggle to save money.

Do You Like Chocolate Cake?

I’m sure you do and the area of the brain associated with pleasure was probably activated by me asking that. You might have even noticed this sensation.

So, say you eat a piece of cake, this will release dopamine from the VTA.

  • This dopamine is pushed out to the amygdala giving you a feel good reward feeling (e.g. Happiness).
  • The hippocampus will remember what you’ve eaten, the memory of eating it, where you’ve eaten it, who you’ve eaten it with and any other associated memories.
  • The nucleus accumbens will be involved in the muscle movement of taking another bite or walking to the counter to order another slice.
  • The pre-frontal cortex, will be involved in the cognition of all of these states and any decision making. All of which creates a feedback loop and the building of a behaviour.


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The Hunter Gatherer Lifestyle

Humans are primed through years of evolution to grab and consume. Take food as an example, pre-agricultural days restricted the diet to a predominantly meat and plant based diet.

This wasn’t always readily available from restaurants or waiting in the fridge ready to be eaten. For centuries man evolved from the fast and the feast nature of the hunter gatherer lifestyle.

As we will find out, the consequence of this is that we are hard wired to feast and consume, and this is why we struggle to save money.

Adapative To Maldapative

It would not have been adaptive for simple hunter–gatherers to ration food intake or to pass up calorically dense foods. This genetic or cultural adaptation of pairing immediate return behaviour with food resources and a preference for high calories would have been an adaptive.

However, this preference for high-calorie food is now a liability in the modern day, high abundance environment. This reward circuitry as we have described can be applied to all manner of human behaviour, such as consumer behaviour and eating out in resturants.

Modern Day Diets

This is why scientists have started to uncover the health benefits of intermittent fasting diets, such as 5-2 and 16-8. This research has identified that intermittent fasting can re-set our metabolic rates, blood sugars and burn fat at a higher rate.

There is also research to support that this can reduce the risk of heart disease and improve the cardiovascular system. Further research also suggests it can reduce cancer risks, or aid in the treatment of it.

With regards to the latter, other studies have found that Ketogenic (Low Carbohydrate) rather than intermittent fasting diets to be an effective cancer treatment.

Regulating Our Impulse To Spend

Many of the psychological traps I mentioned in the previous post take advantage of the way our brains process information. Our frontal cortex can regulate our impulses, but even this has its limitations in certain environments.

Take a supermarket for example, where everything is designed to exploit our natural behaviour. Ultimately, this is a main reason why we struggle to save money.

You can read all about this in the previous post by clicking here. This post talks all about the consumer psychology that is used to exploit you.

5 Ways To Beat The Urge To Spend

If you are someone who struggles to save money. Using the above research I’ve synthesised 7 key ways to beat the urge to spend.

1. Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind

When it comes to any type of consumer behaviour, purchasing things for consumption is very hard to resist. This is because this feasting behaviour is hard-wired.

At times, the only way to save money or avoid temptation is to avoid temptation altogether. Apply the out of sight, out of mind mentality. Basically, if you don’t want to eat, don’t go in the kitchen!

2. Calculate The Cost In An Hourly Wage

Apply some logic to the situation, rather than relying on emotional reasoning. Slow the situation down by asking yourself how much the item would cost in an hourly wage.

It might balance things out when you realise you’re spending two hours of salary on something and this will balance out the equation of money vs wants.

3. Plan Your Purchases

If you do have to go and buy something, plan out what you need in advance. Take a shopping list for example, or go in a retail store with a set mission and get out. No distractions.

This enhanced focus doesn’t allow for open ended questions like, should I buy this? Do I want this item? It’s a clear set of instructions, where do I find the item I’m looking for and how do I pay for it as efficiently as possible.

4. Ask Yourself Some Key Questions

Always ask yourself the following questions:

  • Do I need this or do I just want this?
  • Are you buying this for a short-term reward to make you feel better or will the item bring you long-term happiness?
  • What is the cost or benefit to your long-term financial goals?

5. Keep Your Financial End Goals In Mind

Following on from the last point. Make some key goals in mind. Relating to what you want to do with your life? Your can work this back into financial goals you need to achieve to help accomplish them.

Having an arbitrary goal for no reason might not motivate you to save. Therefore, you will have little motivation to resist the urge to spend.

Keep your savings goals in mind, and know when you’re about to make a purchase how the purchase will affect your goals.

6. Defer Your Purchases

Sometimes the urge to purchase something can be very strong. You may have also made your mind up that you don’t just want something, you need it. In this instance simply try to defer the purchase. Tell yourself, you’ll buy it next week or next month.

You might find over a period of time that you don’t actually want the item in question. Maybe you will still want it and this might reduce the likelihood of you experiencing buyers remorse or feeling guilty about spending.

This is because you will know that it’s not just an impulse buy, but something you genuinely want.

7. Track Your Spending

Lastly, track your spending. This will over-time enhance your ability to make meaningful purchases. Do you know that people who keep a food diary lose twice as much weight. Perhaps its not that their impulse to eat has become any less, they just have a greater awareness of their behaviour.

Final Thoughts On Why We Struggle To Save Money

As you can see the are some real primal instincts which although were once adaptative, now result in some unhealthy behaviours (i.e. overspending, obesity).

However, as we have looked at in this post and the previous posts in this series, marketers and retails take advantage of these impulses and the gaps in our ability to accurately process complex information.

I therefore hope that I have raised awareness of these exploited loopholes and provided some practical tips to give us an advantage. More than this, I hope I have pointed out that there is a complex game being played and therefore it is not always your fault if you struggle to save money.


If you are someone who often feels guilty for spending then I would direct you to my post on why you feel guilty for spending and how to stop.

If you just want to save some money without the pain, then I would recommend you read genuine ways to save money without suffering.

Maybe you have the balance between saving and spending right, but want to spend your money in ways that make you feel happier? In which case I would encourage you to read my post on how to buy happiness.


6 Simple Steps To Improve Your Finances (With Minimal Effort)

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