Budgeting
Planning & budgeting
Saving & investing
KiwiSaver
Tackling debt
Protecting wealth
Retirement
Home buying
Life events
Setting goals
Money tracking
Plan your spending with a budget
Getting advice
Studying
Get better with money
What pūtea beliefs do you have?
How to save your money
How to start investing
Find a financial adviser to help you invest
Your investment profile
Compound interest
Net worth
Types of investments
Term deposits
Bonds
Investment funds
Shares
Property investment
How KiwiSaver works and why it's worth joining
How to pick the right KiwiSaver fund
Make the most of KiwiSaver and grow your balance
How KiwiSaver can help you get into your first home
Applying for a KiwiSaver hardship withdrawal
How to use buy now pay later
What you really need to know before you use credit
How to get out of debt quickly
Credit reports
Know your rights
Pros and cons of debt consolidation
Credit cards
Car loans
Personal loans
Hire purchase
Student loans
Getting a fine
What happens if I start to struggle with moni?
How to protect yourself from fraud and being scammed
About insurance
Insurance types
Insuring ourselves
Wills
Enduring powers of attorney
Family trusts
Insuring our homes
Losing a partner
Redundancy
Serious diagnosis
How to cope with the aftermath of fraud
Separation
About NZ Super
This year's NZ Super rates
When you’re thinking of living in a retirement village
How to plan, save and invest for retirement
Manage your money in retirement
Find housing options in retirement
Planning & budgeting
Saving & investing
KiwiSaver
Tackling debt
How to use buy now pay later
What you really need to know before you use credit
How to get out of debt quickly
Credit reports
Know your rights
Pros and cons of debt consolidation
Credit cards
Car loans
Personal loans
Hire purchase
Student loans
Getting a fine
What happens if I start to struggle with moni?
View all
Protecting wealth
Retirement
Home buying
Resources
Videos
Podcasts
Just wondering
Help with the cost of living
In need of financial help
Booklets
Glossary
Blogs
View all
17 May 2016
Reading time: 3 minutes
Posted
by
Tom Hartmann
, 0 Comments
I once was in a band with a manic drummer.
I don’t mean just a bit wild, excited or energetic – Josh had full-blown bipolar mood swings. When he was a bit “down” he could hold it together steadily, but when his mood swung “up”, all sorts of things could happen on stage.
He would continually experiment. It was as if his mind was an endless string of “Check this out. How about this? Let me try this instead. I hadn’t noticed that; let me try it.” So exhausting… and fascinating all at once.
Making decisions with money can get a bit manic sometimes. And those like Josh who are affected by real mania can get into extreme difficulty because of their impulse spending on the fly.
Thankfully therapists have discovered strategies that help. Anyone can use them if their spending gets a bit manic.
The first is the 48-hour rule of thumb. For any purchases over a certain amount – say $20, $50 or whatever level works for you – the idea is to take a couple of days to think before pulling the trigger.
Waiting works – it helps to guarantee that a given expense fits our plan and is really what we want. Our brains have two speed settings, like the Ant and the Grasshopper, and pausing helps us get into that slow, deliberate thinking mode we need to make good money decisions.
Of course, 48 hours is a bit arbitrary; I’ve heard of people having a 24-hour rule or, at the other extreme, a 30-day rule. We all may need to vary it depending on the dollar amounts and the impulse spending patterns we’re hoping to avoid. (The 30-day rule may help for impulse car buying, for instance.)
The second strategy, instead of involving two days, requires two people.
The idea is before making major money decisions to talk to two people about them first. By bouncing our ideas off trusted people we’re close to, we can have the sounding boards we need to make good choices. And many times it’s not the advice they give us that helps, but rather the realisations we make ourselves as we’re explaining what we’re intending to do with our money.
(And there’s the waiting again too, since it typically takes a bit of time to track down those two people.)
In many types of music, the beat is like the foundation of a house – you build upon it. As you probably can imagine, things got unpredictably shaky sometimes in that music group with Josh.
Our money decisions lay the foundations for our lifestyles, too. The more we make choices that get us ahead, the more options we’ll have to positively shape our futures.
We all can be on the manic spectrum at times. Once, during a rehearsal, it was Josh who had to tell me not to get too happy! Seems that when I did, I ended up rushing the beats.
What’s with insurance in 2024? Five things to do when your premiums surge
1 Comment
My Money Sorted: Gordon
1 Comment
Guided by Matariki, it’s the perfect time to think ahead
1 Comment
Job loss? 6 steps to bounce back from redundancy
1 Comment
My Money Sorted: Jaelyn
2 Comments
5 steps to get your $521
3 Comments
Use verification code from your authenticator app. How to use authenticator apps.
Code is invalid. Please try again
Don't have an account? Sign up
Or log in with our social media platforms
A Sorted account gives you a personal dashboard where you can save your tools, track your progress and you'll also receive helpful money tips and guidance straight to your inbox.
Or sign up with our social media platforms
Comments (0)
Comments
No one has commented on this page yet.
RSS feed for comments on this page | RSS feed for all comments