I used to be a terrible saver, but I've figured out how to make filling up my savings accounts nearly as satisfying as shopping (2024)

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• The anticipation of spending money activates the pleasure chemical, dopamine, in our brains. I discovered that I could mimic this feeling when saving money.
• To get and stay motivated, I spend ample time visualizing and thinking about my money goals, and then creatively name savings accounts to match.
• High-yield savings accounts with online banks allow for this strategy, since many don't have monthly account fees or minimums to get started. I recommend a separate account for each goal.
• Find out who has the best high-yield savings account rate right now »

Getting excited about saving money can be tough.

It's not like spending money, an act from which we can derive real pleasure. We have dopamine to thank for that; we get a dump of the infamous pleasure chemical when we consider buying something new.

I've always found it to be personally problematic that saving money seems to yield no such psychological boost. Luckily for me, though, I've cured myself of the inability-to-save affliction without even realizing it.

Nowadays, I get major satisfaction from saving. As a bonus, this satisfaction is not coupled with a nasty spending hangover or crushing regret. (Typed while glaring at an expensive pair of silk pants that are hanging in my closet, unworn.)

So, what changed? Well, you see, I desperately hated my job. One day, in a total fit, I decided that I was going to save every last dime that made its way through my personal economy so that I could quit. (I wrote about the experience on my blog, which, be warned, is stylistically, um, not super professional.)

For eight months, I was singularly obsessed with this goal of quitting and traveling. And the feeling I had when I walked away from that job for the last time was something I had never experienced before: I felt high on joy, and freedom, and power.

Was it my old friend and foe, dopamine? I have no idea. All I know is that this feeling was potent, and it didn't go away. And it was made possible because of money in the bank.

Naming my goal made all the difference

I've come to realize that the trick to saving is visualizing and naming the goal. Then, allow yourself to become rapt by the goal, and to think often of the beauty that is building towards something sustaining, long-term, and worthwhile. Watching money in an account stack up towards your goal number is wildly satisfying.

Have something you're saving for? Perfect. Name that goal and then take it a step further — name a bank account to match. Have another goal? Great. Let's get another account opened, named after that goal. Do you have 12 different money goals? Dang, good for you. Open a different account for each goal.

Online banks and high-yield savings accounts make this possible

If you're thinking to yourself: But wait, this isn't feasible. My bank charges $12 per month for any additional account under the minimum. You're not wrong, but it might be time to get yourself a new bank.

Enter: online-only banks and high-yield savings accounts. These banks have opened up a whole new world to savers, often providing accounts with no monthly fees or minimums.

I personally use both Marcus by Goldman Sachs and Ally Bank, though there are plenty of others.

Some of these banks even allow you to open as many accounts as you'd like. Others allow you to make "categories" or "buckets" within one single account. Either way, you can use this new freedom to create a dashboard of goals with different nicknames — and the heightened motivation that comes along with 'em.

I like to use the ceremonial Naming of the Savings Accounts as an opportunity to let my personality shine. Why not? It's just me, myself, and my own personal money goals over here. No one cares as much about my money goals as much as I do, so I spend ample time picking out the names that they deserve.

And as you can imagine, stashing bucks in my "FRESH SUSHI IN TOKYO" account is a heckuva lot more fun — and motivating — than moving money into the sadly titled "Savings Acct. 1234567."

Here's a list of some savings goals I have or have had in the past, along with their respective savings account name:

Rental property down payment: "CASH FLOW QUEEN"

Vacation to hike the Dolomites of Northern Italy with girlfriends: "GIRLS GONE WILD-ERNESS"

Taxes: "SOCIETY DUES"

Emergency fund: "OH $H*T STASH"

Slush fund: "FOOLISHNESS FUND"

Holiday money: "MERRY COMPOUND INTEREST"

Really, the only limit to your creativity is the bank's character limit. At both Ally and Marcus, opening accounts is fast and easy. My personal experience with the new era of online-only banks is that they have much better user interfaces and make opening up and funding accounts easier than it's ever been. In fact, I bet you could open an account in less than 10 minutes.

Renaming them is easy, too. For example, to rename accounts at Marcus, you simply click into the account itself, and then click the pen icon next to the account's name.

Of course, being able to open and rename multiple accounts isn't the only reason to use a high-interest savings account. Most pay a higher rate of interest than your typical bank, even in the current low-rate environment. Because if I am going to be stashing cash away in a savings account, I might as well earn some money on it.

Seeing my goals laid out so clearly — some might even say beautifully — is in and of itself motivation to fill up these buckets. As a bonus, I allow myself to feel accomplished each time I add money. It's a delayed gratification that hits different than, say, spending a bunch of money on scented candles, but the feeling is a satisfaction and peace of mind that I get from it cannot be matched by any purchase out there.

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