"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?
「一定要擦防曬。」 「飲食要均衡。」 「省一分錢就是賺一分錢。」 各位可能小時候就學過上述這些了, 也許是向父母學的, 如果你在八○年代長大, 也許是向每集《大英雄》卡通 最後的公益宣導學的。 但,很有可能,儘管知道這些, 你外出時仍然沒有擦防曬, 一次就狼吞虎嚥吃掉一包洋芋片, 或者花掉大半薪水,遠超過預期。 為什麼會這樣?
[Your Money and Your Mind] with Wendy De La Rosa
〔你的錢和你的腦〕 〔溫蒂·迪·拉·羅斯主持〕
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.
幾年前,兩位耶魯教授創造了 「大英雄謬誤」這個詞 來描述這個現象。 它是種誤解,誤以為 「知道」就已經贏了一半。 但,結果發現,在大部分的情況中, 光是知道某件事, 一點也不足以讓你去實踐它。 資訊不見得都會改變行為。
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.
身為協助家庭改善 財務決策的行為科學家, 我曾經見過有人很難存錢, 很難減少開銷, 或很難管理債務, 即使他們去上了財務能力課也一樣。 而現實是,大家基本上都知道 他們需要做什麼 才能改善他們的財務狀況。 我們都知道。公式很簡單: 他們需要多存點錢、少花點錢。
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.
重點是,就是很難做到。 說的比做的容易, 我也有過這樣的經歷。 比如,我有訂一本雜誌, 我知道我應該取消訂閱。 我從來沒有翻過那雜誌, 每個月,錢都不斷 從我的支票帳戶支出, 每當我檢視我的預算時, 都會看到這一項, 我知道我該取消訂閱, 但我就是沒做。 我花了兩年才取消訂閱那本雜誌。 我很確定不只有我。 你可能也有某種 你知道該取消的長期訂閱, 所以,這裡的重點就是不要再堅信著 財務安全不是個 能只用教導就解決的問題。 比如,在美國,
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.
我們每年會花近七億美金 做財務教育計畫, 但,有個研究團隊發現, 這些計畫僅能解釋 0.1% 的 財務行為變異。 不是零,但非常接近零了。 同時,有二十州都規定 要在高中開設財務能力課程, 但,研究發現,除非 這些計畫有很好的導入, 不然它們都很難影響 學生未來的信用評分 或去做投資的可能性。 你能把財務管理得多好, 有個更顯著的預測因子, 就是你的一般算數能力。
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.
我從這一切當中學到, 行為改變不是靠教育來達成。 是靠環境。 如果你很難做到, 並不是你本身有什麼問題。 比較可能是你周圍的環境出了問題。 看看你身邊。 要你花錢的暗示變聰明了、 變快速了,也更有效了。 定向廣告變得更個人化, 企業提供的內容變得更有吸引力, 你周遭的一切都在強調花錢。 咱們來改變這一點。 你可以重塑你的環境 以及你和它互動的方式, 而我能在過程中引導你。
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.
隨著這個影集的過程, 我會帶各位一步一步去看 你能如何改變你的環境, 重新掌控你的財務。 在每一集的尾聲, 我會分享以研究為基礎的秘訣, 說明今天能如何少花錢、多存錢—— 不是明天,今天就開始。 未來的你會很感謝你。