To Save More, Tap Into Your Emotions

I am knee-deep in mementos and family heirlooms these days, having cleaned out three separate houses within the past 14 months following my parents’ deaths and an aunt’s decision to downsize.

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So, naturally, I was intrigued when I came across a recent study that says these very heirlooms might help plump up my savings.

The study comes from Brad Klontz— a psychologist, certified financial planner and associate professor at Creighton University—and was funded by Capital One. The object was to find out whether tapping into your emotional connections to nostalgic items could inspire you to save more—sort of a search for a savings talisman.

Remember the good times. Here’s how it worked: In five cities—Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Dallas and Seattle—experimenters invited the public to a seminar on savings, to be conducted at a local hotel. When participants arrived on the day of the seminar, they were sent to one of two conference rooms. The first group heard a standard presentation on financial literacy, which touched on the importance of saving, the power of compound interest and various saving strategies.