Bowtie Acupuncture

 Or  5 Things I Learned From ‘Dollars and Sense, How we Misthink Money and How to Spend Smarter’ by Dan Ariely and Jeff Kreisler 1. Mental Accounting Is Irrational – When we mentally categorize money into separate pots, we also separate that money from being actual money. It becomes the same as having a stack of poker chips to one casino, we feel justified in either 1) spending all that money on anything we can rationalize to fit into that category, or 2) we move it into another category when we over draw from one pot. This can lead us to mislabeling unaccounted-for-money, such as game winnings or money found on the street, as “fun money” and blow it all without thinking twice, when in fact it is still money , and we can use it for all the things we need money for on a regular basis (bills, debt, investing). Instead of relying on our internal accountant, we should lay out a physical or digital budget where we can see where our money is going and stick to it. This will he...

       Prior to beginning my professional doctorate in TCM, I had a money-averse attitude that was borne out of a mindset centered upon not having enough and being fearful of running out of the little resources I had. When I entered graduate school, I had to take out student loans to cover the cost of school as well as the cost of living in a high cost of living area. These loans were the most money I had seen at any one time and I gladly created a simple budget so that I could stuff away as much of the loans into my savings as I could. I was unaware of the growing debt I was quickly accumulating as I had adopted the attitude towards student loans that had been modeled for me, ‘just take them and they’ll get paid back eventually.’ At first, I thought this was the only way to acquire a graduate degree. However, throughout the program I met several classmates who worked full-time and only took classes as they could afford them, thereby avoiding student loan debt. This ...