What we know intuitively about money and why we do the opposite.
Posted on May 28, 2025 by Jason Lackey, One of Thousands of Money and Finance Coaches on Noomii.
You don’t need a finance degree to know you shouldn’t spend more than you earn… so why do so many people still do it?
The truth lies in five simple lessons we all know but rarely follow. These aren’t advanced strategies or secret hacks. They’re common sense. And yet, most people still end up broke, stressed, or stuck in survival mode.
Let’s talk about what we intuitively know, and why we still don’t act on it.
Spend Less Than You Earn
A 1950s farmer harvests his crop, sells 85%, and keeps 15%.
Why not sell it all? Because he knows that the 15% he saves is his future, his seed for the next season. Without it, there’s no harvest next year.
Why we don’t do it:
Modern money doesn’t look like seed. It’s digital, abstract, and frictionless. Tap a card and it’s gone. Add to that the comfort of regular paychecks, mess up this one, and another’s coming soon. That illusion of safety buys us just enough time to keep avoiding real change.
Save for Emergencies
You see fire extinguishers everywhere. We pay taxes for emergency services we hope we never need. Same with car repairs, medical bills, or busted water heaters, it’s not if, it’s when.
Why we don’t do it:
Because appearances matter, or so we think. We spend to avoid looking broke, even if it means using credit. Charging a weekend getaway feels better than admitting we’re behind on rent. Logic doesn’t win when shame’s in the driver’s seat.
Avoid High-Interest Debt
Imagine a jet with engines facing forward instead of back. Instinctively, we know that’s a disaster. Even if the backward engines are bigger, those forward-pointing ones work against us. Same with debt.
Why we don’t do it:
If we thought of our paycheck as fuel and our net worth as the jet, we’d stop feeding forward-facing engines. But we don’t. We see an $800 couch and ignore the $937 it becomes after interest. That $30 monthly payment feels doable, until it’s not.
Plan for the Future
You’re walking through a park and see a squirrel stashing away nuts. You don’t need to be told why… winter is coming! You just know.
Why we don’t do it:
Because we’re mentally exhausted. Work, bills, emails, kids, laundry, by the time you sit down to plan, your brain is toast. That’s decision fatigue. Planning gets pushed aside because survival mode leaves no bandwidth for long-term thinking.
Be Mindful of Spending
Imagine you’re in a video game, crossing a lava pit using timed stepping stones. Intuitively you know that every step matters. One wrong move, and you’re toast.
Why we don’t do it:
Our brains are wired for now. Not later. We crave dopamine, not discipline. That’s present bias, the urge to feel good today, even if it wrecks tomorrow. This is why budgeting apps don’t work on their own. The issue isn’t the math. It’s the mindset.
Final Thought
Most people aren’t dumb or lazy. They’re tired. They’re overwhelmed. And they were never taught how to bridge the gap between knowing and doing.
That’s where coaching comes in. Not to tell you what you already know, but to help you finally live it.
If you’re stuck in the knowing-but-not-doing cycle, it’s not because you’re broken. It’s because you’re human. But you don’t have to stay there.
Let’s get you moving again.
