👋

Dear all,

I have taught German as a foreign language for several years and one thing that I seriously advocate is having goals!

In one of the very first classes I sat in (an A2.2 back in 2011) I asked one student why he was learning German. “I want to read Karl Marx”. I smirked, but I was impressed by the his commitment and admired his clear “Why”.

Now, this one might have been a bit too big of a goal, but at least there was a direction. The trick, after all, is having smaller but very achievable goals. Humans are motivated by the anticipation of reward, so making goals or any other habit attractive (and achievable) will help you stick to them (cf. James Clear, Atomic Habits).

The same thing goes with your personal finance: it’s better to have goals or at least something that triggers that motivation to save or invest money.

Long before I startet getting into personal finance I bought a Piggy Bank (Sparschwein) at a local flea market for 50 cents. It was one of those that was completely sealed, no lid nor hole that would tempt me to get in there way before time. I fed it with big coins (50 cents, 1 and 2€), I startet to take the feeding very seriously and after less than a year it was full and it was time for me to crack it open. Piggy had been fed almost 300 Euros and I went and bought a new lens for my camera.

I glued everything back together and started from scratch, but now only feeding produce of the highest quality: 2€ coins. I have cracked that piggy once again to pay the Finanzamt, I got a bigger one wich I have already cracked once to buy a Technics record player (a longtime dream of mine) back in December 2019 and now I am saving up for flight tickets (probably just one, by the time it’s full) for a family trip to Japan in a maybe near future.

It takes a bit of time and inflation sucks, that is for sure. But gratification, both immediate - putting a coin in there - and delayed - cracking it open -, is an amazing motivator! And, yes, I have become very reluctant to spend any 2 Euro coins!

Have you ever had a Sparschwein?

Take care!

Your André

PS - as always, spread the word and share the link love