Money & Behavior

Evidence-based money & behavior practices.

26 concepts in this area — each broken into concrete practices with the real mechanism, an honest read on the evidence, and how to practice it with IX Coach.

• Automatic Investing, Made Practical — How does automating your investments actually lead to better long-term returns?
• Conscious Spending Plan, Made Practical — What is a conscious spending plan and how does it differ from traditional budgeting?
• Delayed Gratification, Made Practical — What is delayed gratification and can you actually train it?
• Dollar-Cost Averaging, Made Practical — Does dollar-cost averaging actually reduce investment risk?
• Financial Independence, Made Practical — How does the FIRE movement approach financial independence and is it achievable?
• Future Self Continuity, Made Practical — How does feeling connected to your future self improve financial and life decisions?
• Lifestyle Creep: Why Raises Don’t Make You Richer — What is lifestyle creep and how do you prevent spending from rising with every raise?
• Loss Aversion, Made Practical — What is loss aversion and how do you stop it from distorting your decisions?
• Mental Accounting, Made Practical — What is mental accounting and how does it quietly distort your decisions?
• Money Scripts, Made Practical — What are money scripts and how do they shape your financial behavior?
• Pain of Paying, Made Practical — How does the pain of paying affect spending and what can you do about it?
• Pay Yourself First, Made Practical — What does "pay yourself first" mean and why does automating it actually work?
• The 4 Percent Rule, Made Practical — How much can you safely withdraw from a retirement portfolio each year?
• The 50/30/20 Budget: A Simple Framework for Where Your Money Goes — How does the 50/30/20 budget rule work and is it right for everyone?
• The Debt Avalanche, Made Practical — What is the debt avalanche method and how much interest does it actually save?
• The Debt Snowball, Made Practical — How does the debt snowball method work and is it better than paying the highest interest first?
• The Enough Mindset, Made Practical — What does it mean to have "enough" and how do you actually define it?
• The Envelope System, Made Practical — How does the envelope budgeting system work and does it actually help people spend less?
• The Financial Independence Number, Made Practical — How do you calculate your financial independence number?
• The Hedonic Treadmill, Made Practical — Why does getting what you want not make you happier for long?
• The Latte Factor: Small Spending and the Cost of Habit — Does cutting small daily purchases like coffee actually make a meaningful financial difference?
• The Marshmallow Test and Your Money — How does delayed gratification affect financial behavior, and can you improve it?
• The Psychology of Money, Made Practical — What is the psychology of money and how does it change how you behave with it?
• The Spending Fast, Made Practical — What is a spending fast and does it actually work for debt or savings?
• Values-Based Spending, Made Practical — How do you align your spending with your values?
• YNAB Budgeting, Made Practical — How does the YNAB method actually change how you handle money?