The Dangers of Gamification

The brain of an ADHDer like me switches to the off position when we think about saving, budgeting, investing, and planning for our future.

Turning our finances into a game can help.

What makes you want to keep playing your favorite game? Is it leveling-up? Unlocking new quests? Working towards a defined reward?

Add game-like elements to make the hard things more fun and rewarding.

Gamify your investing.

McDonald's uses gamification via their Monopoly game to encourage customers to buy more. Buy a medium drink, not the small one, and get a monopoly game piece. It's fun to try and win and makes us feel like we're in control.


Apps to Gamifying Your Finances

Below are a few apps that could help make money more fun:

1. Yotta is an FDIC-insured bank account. For every $25 saved, you get a lottery ticket each week. So if you have $100 in your account, you get four tickets that week and four tickets the following week. Each day, there's a drawing to see if you've won.

2. Zogo earns “virtual pineapples” by engaging you with educational modules. Exchange virtual pineapples for gift cards and charity donations.

3. Digit is a cash-bucket budgeting approach where you have two checking accounts: one for fixed expenses and the other for the money you have free to spend. It looks at fixed expenses and automatically sets aside money for you. #gamification

4. Qapital allows you to visualize and set up savings goals. It also lets you budget and invest using a feature where you can do things with a partner or significant other.


Gamify Your Finances Without Technology

You don’t need a fancy app to gamifying your finance:

5. Design a competition for yourself

How little can you spend? What can you do to spend as little as you possibly can? How fast can you pay off your debt?

Make it a challenge and reward yourself at the end to keep you motivated.

6. Include your friends and family

Involving your friends and family in the competition revs up those competitive juices, especially for those who love competing.

Having someone else doing the same thing as we are where we have to beat them helps us reach our goals faster.

7. Make your rewards reasonable

Don't make your rewards too big. You don't want to reverse your progress, even if it's something as simple as a night out with a significant other or a guilt-free dinner night.

8. Budgeting Tetris

Create a Tetris board where each square is $100. Fill up the board with your fixed expenses.

Then you can visualize, using different colors and crowns, how much money you have leftover after you fill-up the board with your fixed expenses—shoutout to the Stacking Benjamins podcast for this great idea!

Visit the show notes for links to all the resources mentioned at https://www.adhdmoneytalk.com/021

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