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Having an attitude of gratitude can help your finances in the long run. Here’s how changing your mindset to one of gratitude can help you improve the way you manage money:

Patience When Making Financial Decisions

According to a study published in the journal Psychological Science, feelings of gratitude can combat a tendency toward instant gratification. 

According to the authors of that study, cultivating feelings of gratitude can reduce instances of impulse buying and insufficient saving. As you become more grateful, you are more likely to feel fulfilled in your life—and less likely to chase the “hit” you get from spending money.¹

If feeling grateful can keep you from buying something expensive and unnecessary, you’re already coming out ahead.

On top of that, using gratitude to get beyond instant gratification can save you money by encouraging you to save up for bigger purchases. Instead of pulling out the credit card to buy something now (and paying interest as you carry a balance month-to-month), put together a savings plan. You’ll save money on interest and maybe even decide you don’t need that item after all.

Promotes Generosity

Gratitude also promotes generosity. You’re more willing to give to others when you feel grateful. So, how does this tie into better finances?

Interestingly, giving can help you financially. First of all, when you make giving to charity a priority, you’re forced to re-evaluate your finances so that you can meet your objectives. Getting your financial house in order by tracking your spending and reducing expenses so that you have money to donate to causes you care about is reason enough to be grateful and generous.

Cultivates Contentment

When you feel grateful for what you have, you are also more likely to feel content with your situation.

Learning contentment with the help of gratitude can help you decouple feelings of happiness from buying more stuff or thinking that a higher income can help you achieve your dreams of life satisfaction. Indeed, Daniel Kahneman performed research with Angus Deaton and discovered that after reaching an income of $75,000, emotional well-being didn’t improve along with income beyond that point.2

Spending extra money won’t make you happy—and it can put your financial future at risk. Instead, look for ways to feel good about what you already have by developing an attitude of gratitude.

Instead, by practicing gratitude, you might find that you don’t feel the need to spend a lot of money to feel happy. Learn contentment, and you’ll be more likely to spend money on others, save money for long-term goals that will help you feel more fulfilled in the long run, and avoid impulse buys that can break your short-term budget.

Source: https://www.thebalance.com/how-gratitude-can-help-your-finances-4164181

1. Association for Psychological Science. "Can Gratitude Reduce Costly Impatience?" Accessed June 7, 2021.

2. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. "High Income Improves Evaluation of Life But Not Emotional Well-Being." Accessed June 7, 2021.