# Sounds like a friend I have **URL:** \ **Category:** uncategorized\ **Created:** [July 19, 2011, 7:22pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/sounds-like-a-friend-i-have/1319 "2011-07-19T19:22:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Daniel\_Reeves1](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/daniel_reeves1/32/713_2.png) [@Daniel\_Reeves1](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/Daniel_Reeves1)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 7:22pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/sounds-like-a-friend-i-have/1319/1 "2011-07-19T19:22:30Z")
From: Daniel Reeves [dreeves@gmail.com](mailto:dreeves@gmail.com) Date: Fri, May 13, 2011 at 11:32 Subject: Re: Sounds like a friend I have Ah, thanks David, I remember reading that! I don’t think I’m akratic in my spending (I’m too rich to care?) but it may be the most (literally) costly manifestation of akrasia: impulse purchases that crowd out more important spending like vacations, or paying down high-interest debt. Which reminds me, you should answer my straw poll about commitment devices if you haven’t: > **[How To Do What You Want: Akrasia and Self-Binding](https://blog.beeminder.com/akrasia#POL)** > > \[A version of this article was originally published at Messy Matters by Daniel Reeves.\] Many of us have a problem following through on our intentions. And it’s more than just a difficulty in predicting our future desires. It’s not like “Gee, I... As for the self-control credit card, I recall that the bank Ariely pitched it to ultimately decided to pass on it. Note the similarity to Christmas Club aka Santa Saver bank accounts though. On Fri, May 13, 2011 at 11:18, David Yang wrote: > from predictably irrational > > A FEW YEARS ago I was so convinced that a “self-control” credit card was a > good idea that I asked for a meeting with one of the major banks. To my > delight, this venerable bank responded, and suggested that I come to its > corporate headquarters in New York. > > I arrived in New York a few weeks later, and after a brief delay at the > reception desk, was led into a modern conference room. Peering through the > plate glass from on high, I could look down on Manhattan’s financial > district and a stream of yellow cabs pushing through the rain. Within a few > minutes the room had filled with half a dozen high-powered banking > executives, including the head of the bank’s credit card division. > > I began by describing how procrastination causes everyone problems. In the > realm of personal finance, I said, it causes us to neglect our savings—while > the temptation of easy credit fills our closets with goods that we really > don’t need. It didn’t take long before I saw that I was striking a very > personal chord with each of them. – [http://dreev.es](http://dreev.es) – search://“Daniel Reeves” – [http://dreev.es](http://dreev.es) – search://“Daniel Reeves” ---
**Author:** ![Daniel\_Reeves1](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.beeminder.com/daniel_reeves1/32/713_2.png) [@Daniel\_Reeves1](https://forum.beeminder.com/u/Daniel_Reeves1)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 7:23pm UTC](https://forum.beeminder.com/t/sounds-like-a-friend-i-have/1319/2 "2011-07-19T19:23:16Z")
From: David Yang [david.g.yang@gmail.com](mailto:david.g.yang@gmail.com) Date: Fri, May 13, 2011 at 11:37 Subject: Re: Sounds like a friend I have Ive never thought of you as an akratic spender - in fact I think youre probably more rational than I am with my various hang-ups around buying certain. things and propensity to underspend relative to my purchasing power (a statement that my mother would probably disagree with) I was referring to the entrepreneurial spirit and excitement of areily to pitch an idea to one of the big banks 🙂 The book is really fascinating with it’s various anecdotes, should be required reading for all future hires of beeminder 🙂 Sent from my iPad On May 13, 2011, at 12:32 PM, Daniel Reeves [dreeves@gmail.com](mailto:dreeves@gmail.com) wrote: Ah, thanks David, I remember reading that! I don’t think I’m akratic in my spending (I’m too rich to care?) but it may be the most (literally) costly manifestation of akrasia: impulse purchases that crowd out more important spending like vacations, or paying down high-interest debt. Which reminds me, you should answer my straw poll about commitment devices if you haven’t: [http://beeminder.com/commitpoll.html](http://beeminder.com/commitpoll.html) As for the self-control credit card, I recall that the bank Ariely pitched it to ultimately decided to pass on it. Note the similarity to Christmas Club aka Santa Saver bank accounts though. On Fri, May 13, 2011 at 11:18, David Yang wrote: from predictably irrational A FEW YEARS ago I was so convinced that a “self-control” credit card was a good idea that I asked for a meeting with one of the major banks. To my delight, this venerable bank responded, and suggested that I come to its corporate headquarters in New York. I arrived in New York a few weeks later, and after a brief delay at the reception desk, was led into a modern conference room. Peering through the plate glass from on high, I could look down on Manhattan’s financial district and a stream of yellow cabs pushing through the rain. Within a few minutes the room had filled with half a dozen high-powered banking executives, including the head of the bank’s credit card division. I began by describing how procrastination causes everyone problems. In the realm of personal finance, I said, it causes us to neglect our savings—while the temptation of easy credit fills our closets with goods that we really don’t need. It didn’t take long before I saw that I was striking a very personal chord with each of them. – [http://dreev.es](http://dreev.es) – search://“Daniel Reeves” – [http://dreev.es](http://dreev.es) – search://“Daniel Reeves”