"Always wear sunscreen." "Eat a balanced diet." "A penny saved is a penny earned." You probably all learned these lessons as a kid, maybe from your parents, or if you grew up in the '80s, on the public service announcements at the end of every episode of the G.I. Joe cartoons. But chances are, despite knowing this, you still stepped outside without putting on sunscreen, devoured an entire bag of chips in one go or spent way more of your paycheck than you anticipated. So why is that?
“要擦抹防晒霜。” “保持饮食均衡。” “省一分钱,就是赚一分钱。” 你们小的时候可能 都学到过这些经验。 这些经验可能是从父母那里学到的, 对于 80 年代长大的人来说, 也可能是从 《特种部队》卡通片每集 结束后的公益广告上学来的。 但是,即便你已经知道这些经验, 还是有可能不涂防晒霜就出门, 一口气吃光一整袋薯片, 或者花掉的薪水远远超过了预期。 为什么会这样呢?
[Your Money and Your Mind] with Wendy De La Rosa
【财富与智慧】 【温迪·德·拉·罗莎】
A few years ago, two Yale professors coined the term "G.I. Joe fallacy" to describe this very phenomenon. It's the mistaken idea that knowing is half the battle. But as it turns out, in most situations, just knowing something is not nearly enough for you to put it into practice. Information doesn't always change behavior.
几年前,耶鲁大学的两位教授首次 用 “《特种部队》谬误” 这个词 来形容这一现象。 它指的是这样一种错误看法, 即知情便是成功的一半。 但事实证明,在大部分情况下, 仅仅了解某件事是远远不够的, 这不足以令你将其付诸实施。 资讯并不总能改变人的行为。
As a behavioral scientist helping families make better financial decisions, I've seen people struggle to save money, to cut back on their expenses or to manage their debt, even after they've taken a financial literacy class. And the reality is that people fundamentally know what they need to do to improve their financial situation. We all do. The equation is simple: they need to save more and spend less.
作为一名行为科学家,我帮助人们 在家政理财上做出更明智的决策。 我见到过人们如何为存钱, 为缩减开支,为管理债务 而苦苦挣扎, 即便他们已经上过理财知识课程。 现实是,人们基本上知道, 为了改善财务状况,应该做些什么。 我们都知道该怎么做。 解决问题的公式很简单: 他们需要增加储蓄,减少开支。
But the thing is, that's just really hard to do. It's easier said than done, and I've been in this boat as well. So for example, I had a magazine subscription that I knew I should just cancel. I never read the magazine, and every month, money was coming out of my checking account, and every time I reviewed my budget, I saw it, I knew I had to cancel it, but I didn't. It took me two years to cancel that magazine subscription. And I'm sure I'm not alone. You probably have some type of subscription that you know you should cancel. So the critical piece in all of this is to get rid of this belief that financial security is just a problem that we can teach away.
但是问题是,做到这一点很困难。 说起来容易,做起来难, 我也有过同样的处境。 比如,我订阅了一份杂志, 而且知道自己应该取消订阅。 我从来没有看过这份杂志, 但是这笔钱每个月 都会从账户上被划走。 我每次审核预算时, 都会看到这笔开支。 我知道我必须取消订阅, 但是从来没有这么做。 我用了两年时间才取消了 那份杂志的订阅。 我确信,不止我一个人 遇到过这种状况。 你可能也在定期支付某些会员费, 而且知道应该把它注销掉。 所以这一切的关键就在于, 不要认为财务安全是一个 通过传授经验就可以解决的问题。
In the US, for example, we spend nearly 700 million dollars every year on financial education programs, yet a team of researchers have found that these programs explained only 0.1 percent of the variance in financial behaviors. Not zero, but pretty close to it. Meanwhile, 20 states mandate financial literacy classes in high school, but studies have found that unless these programs are well-implemented, they are unlikely to have any effect on a student's future credit score or their likelihood to invest. A more significant predictor of how well you manage your finances is your general ability to do math.
以美国为例, 我们每年花在理财教育上的 钱差不多是 7 亿美元, 但是一组研究人员却发现, 人们在理财行为上存在着各种差异, 而这些教育项目只 解释了其中的百分之 0.1。 不是零,却已经很接近了。 与此同时,虽然已有 20 个州 要求在高中开设理财知识课程, 但是,研究表明,除非这些 课程计划得到良好实施, 否则不大可能会影响到 学生今后的信用评分, 也不会影响到他们日后 进行投资的可能性。 预测理财能力高低的 一个更重要的指标是 个人整体的数学能力。
From all of this, I've learned that behavior change is not an educational pursuit. It's an environmental one. If you are struggling, it's not because there's something fundamentally wrong with you. It's most likely because there is something wrong with how your environment is set up. Look around you. The cues to spend money have gotten smarter, faster and more efficient. Targeted ads are becoming more personalized, corporate content is becoming more engaging, and everything around you is focusing on spending. So let's change that. You can reshape your environment and how you interact with it, and I can guide you through it.
这一切让我了解到,改变行为方式 是不可能通过教育来实现的。 这要通过改变环境来解决。 你如果觉得做出改变很困难, 这并不是因为你有什么本质性问题, 很有可能是因为你周围的环境 出了问题。 看看周围。 提示我们花钱的信号 变得越来越聪明, 越来越快,越来越有效。 定向广告变得越来越个性化, 企业发布的内容信息也更加吸引人, 你周围的一切都聚焦在 花钱这件事情上。 所以,让咱们来改变现状。 你可以改造周围环境, 改变你与环境之间的互动方式, 在这个过程中,我会为你提供指导。
Over the course of this series, I'll take you through a step-by-step look at how you can change your environment and regain control of your finances. At the end of every episode, I'll share practical tips based on research on how to spend less and save more today -- not tomorrow, but today. And your future self will thank you.
在整部系列里, 我将带你逐步了解 你该如何改变环境, 如何重新掌控财务状况。 在每集结尾, 我会和你分享一些基于 调查研究而得来的实用技巧, 告诉你如何现在就实现 少花钱,多储蓄—— 不要等到明天,从今天做起。 你将来会为此而感谢自己。