How Does Merle van den Akker See the Role of Emotions In People’s Money-Spending Habits?

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EPISODE: 16

Merle van den Akker

Episode Summary

In this episode of Digital Banking Podcast, Josh DeTar features a conversation with guest – Merle van den Akker. Merle is a Behavioral Science Ph.D. student at the Warwick Business School in England. Merle’s motto is “You are never done learning” and she backs this up as a host of the Questioning Behavior podcast and as a blog writer at Money On The Mind.

Merle’s inspiration for all of her work are two big questions: “Why do people spend the money they spend, and why don’t people make certain investments?”. One of the main topics she’s researched is around whether online banking and tracker apps really help people with their finances. What’s the behavior that fuels our financial decisions?

If you want to learn how emotions can influence people’s decisions regarding money, how different payment methods influence your spending habits, and what’s the science behind contactless cards & our spending behavior – tune in to hear it straight from Merle van den Akker.

P.S. – She also had an interesting point of view about whether we should get back to cash or not, so don’t miss out on it!

Key Insights

How do humans use emotions to rationally or irrationally manage money? Merle states that all of our behaviors regarding money management depend on various factors – such as payment methods. When it comes to cards, it’s different when you are paying with contactless, credit, and debit cards. She also says that all of these factors are closely connected to our emotions. “However, with the credit card, you know, you can always spend a bit more.”

⚡ Why are people so bad at saving? Being rich doesn’t mean you know more about money and how to manage it. Merle states that many rich people are in debt, while on the other hand, many lower income people have absolutely no debt.

⚡ Do we need better financial education? Merle strongly believes that people should be educated more about money and how everything works. In her opinion, the best time to do so is in early high-school, to help young people make better financial decisions when they grow up.

Guest At A Glance

Merle van den Akker, Behavioural Science PhD Student

Money On The Mind | Questioning Behaviour

find Merle On:
LinkedIn | Twitter

Merle is currently a Behavioural Science Ph.D. student at the Warwick Business School in England. Besides that, Merle is also a podcast host and runs a blog. She is an incredible self-starter and workaholic. She runs a blog and hosts a podcast, while also pursuing her Ph.D.

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2023-11-06T12:27:59-08:00
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