How to get yourself to do those personal finance tasks you've been avoiding

Is there a financial chore that you’ve been putting off? Maybe a bill you need to dispute, a form you need to fill out, or some subscription you need to cancel?

A recent paper in the Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance gives us some insights as to why these tasks can feel so miserable: Americans spend, on average, just over eight minutes a day on financial management, including things like paying bills and budgeting. But those few minutes are among the most stressful and least enjoyable parts of the day.

Reema Khrais, host of the Marketplace show “This Is Uncomfortable,” has been reporting on why these financial tasks can feel so difficult, and she shared what she learned with “Marketplace Morning Report” host Kimberly Adams. The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.

Kimberly Adams: First off, why are these tasks, why do they feel so hard to do?

Reema Khrais: Great question. You know, I had this old retirement account I needed to roll over, and I put it off for years, even though I knew rationally it was the financially prudent thing for me to do. So, I called up Katy Milkman, who's a behavioral economist at the University of Pennsylvania, and I asked her, "Why is it so hard to do the thing you already know you should do?" And she said one reason is that these tasks are packed with hidden steps. You know, "roll over a retirement account" sounds like one item on a to-do list, but once you start, it becomes: find the login, call customer service, fill out the forms. There are so many points of friction. And then there's the bigger behavioral piece, which is these tasks don't reward you right away, and Milkman says that runs against some very basic human wiring.

Katy Milkman: Our operating system as humans is built to procrastinate on things that are not instantly gratifying. You've got to outsmart your operating system and figure out a workaround that's going to get you where you want to be.

Adams: All right, what are some of those workarounds?

Khrais: Well, one of the big ones is just don't rely on willpower, right? Behavioral economists talk about something called commitment devices, which is basically a way of making the task harder to avoid later. So, instead of just telling yourself, I'll deal with that eventually, you put it on the calendar or you tell another person you're going to do it. You create a little accountability for your future self, because your future self is probably going to want to procrastinate too. Another workaround is to create some kind of immediate reward, because that's what our brains crave and what they respond to. There's an idea called "temptation bundling," which means pairing something you don't want to do with something you actually enjoy. So, maybe you listen to your favorite podcast while sorting through paperwork, or you get yourself that fancy drink after finally making a call you've been putting off for weeks, or I don't know, maybe months.

Adams: One of the things you've talked about on your show, "This Is Uncomfortable," is this idea of body doubling. What is that, and why does it seem to help?

Khrais: I think part of what makes life admin so hard is that it requires a lot of self-management, right? You have to create the deadline, find the motivation, stay focused, tolerate whatever stress or confusion the task brings up. Body-doubling is working alongside someone else; it gives the task a container. It turns "I need to deal with this someday" into "I'm going to work on this for the next 30 minutes while someone else is working too," which can make the task feel less vague and less endless. And I think there's an emotional piece too. A lot of procrastination is really avoidance. You're avoiding the discomfort of the task. Body-doubling can soften that a little, because you're not doing it alone. And it makes sense. This is partly why we hire financial advisors or health coaches. Yes, you're paying for the expertise, but you're also paying for structure, accountability, and another human being who will actually help you follow through.

Adams: No motivation like you already paid for the service, right?

Khrais: Yeah, you've got to do it!