Nowadays, you don\u2019t even have to go to the shops to be tempted to spend; the shops come to you through your mobile device. It certainly is convenient for you \u2013 and for the retailers. It is difficult to resist the notifications with tantalising offers \u2013 especially when the \u2018ping\u2019 of a notification releases the feel-good hormone, Dopamine. The brain identifies this activity as a rewarding one that you ought to repeat \u2013 creating a craving.<\/p>\n
And similar \u2018highs\u2019 can be experienced when you reward yourself with buying a bargain or a luxury spoil. Of course, you deserve it! But this feeling should not be confused with financial wellbeing.<\/p>\n
When you respond to these buying signals with your heart and not your head, the therapeutic effect of the shopping experience is fleeting; often leaving you with feelings of regret and anxiety.<\/p>\n
The golden rule<\/strong>: If you are tempted to buy things or experiences that are not in your Spending Plan, take time to think about it \u2013 delay the decision by a day or so and see if the desire is still there after the emotions have cooled off. \u00a0If you still want it, fit it into your spending plan and acquire it over time.<\/p>\n And happiness can also be found through del<\/em>ayed gratification \u2013 <\/em>the ability to delay the impulse for an immediate reward, to receive a more favourable reward at a later time<\/strong>. <\/strong><\/p>\n The ultimate reward is financial freedom \u2013 the satisfaction that is found by being in control of your money. Where you can meet immediate needs, have more choices, reward yourself with things that give you pleasure, contribute to the greater good, and save for the future.<\/p>\n If you want to improve your financial wellbeing, talk to a counsellor, financial coach or debt counsellor at LifeAssist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nowadays, you don\u2019t even have to go to the shops […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10622,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[236,38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-2021-may-snippets","category-your-future-financial"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yourlifeassist.co.za\/sunint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yourlifeassist.co.za\/sunint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yourlifeassist.co.za\/sunint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yourlifeassist.co.za\/sunint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yourlifeassist.co.za\/sunint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/yourlifeassist.co.za\/sunint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10613\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yourlifeassist.co.za\/sunint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yourlifeassist.co.za\/sunint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yourlifeassist.co.za\/sunint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yourlifeassist.co.za\/sunint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}