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Clark Howard's Tips

April 23, 2008

The second principle of Clark's motto is to spend less. The penny-pinching guru's late father used to get upset with him and say he was too tight or too cheap with his money; his thrifty ways drove his dad crazy! Wonder what he'd say to Clark today?!

The reality is that people may be hardwired to handle money a certain way. The action of spending money evokes pleasure in some people and pain in others. This is corroborated by studies done by The University of Pennsylvania and Carnegie Mellon that were recently published in The Journal of Consumer Research.

Clark's executive producer Christa recently had an "a ha" moment when reading the studies. She receives pleasure from spending money and is now trying to modify her behavior. Interestingly, Clark feels pain when Christa spends her money because he cares about her and her family. Now Christa wants to re-wired to be more like Clark!

The trick is to understand yourself and then adjust your habits if necessary. Clark admits to having a tendency to unnecessarily deprive himself just to save a buck. So he's had to consciously overcome his aversion to spending and get used to prying open his wallet. Christa, meanwhile, is doing things differently too. She's paying with cash these days so that her budget seems more real to her.

All of this goes to the heart of behavioral economics, a once-maligned field that takes into account human behavior when analyzing one's finances. There's no one right prescription for everybody. You've got to think about your own situation and grade yourself. Then try to adopt some of the other side's behavior.

Consumer advice courtesy of