I Purposefully Choose a Savings Account Password I’ll Forget. Here’s Why

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If the money in your savings account is too accessible, you might use it for the wrong reason. Read on to see how I’ve ensured it’s harder to get to my money. 

I have several savings accounts that I put my money into for various things, like emergency expenses or for vacations.

My savings accounts are at a different financial institution from my checking account because I want to make sure the money is kept separate and not spent on routine purchases. And, when I set up my savings accounts, I purposefully made the password something that I’m definitely going to forget.

It may seem odd to try to make it harder to get into my account by creating a forgettable password (and not saving it in my password manager). But I had a very good reason for making this choice.

Here’s why I made my savings account password impossible to remember

I made the conscious decision to make my savings account password forgettable because I wanted to create more obstacles to getting into my account. I want to have to deal with the hassle of resetting my password because I don’t want to make it too easy to access my saved funds.

See, I have set it up so money transfers into my various savings accounts automatically. When my paycheck is deposited, money comes out of my checking account right away and it goes into savings. I don’t have to sign into my savings account in order for that to happen.

But, if I want to take money out of my savings account, I have to sign into that account in order to do it. So, by making it difficult for me to get into the account, I’ve reduced the likelihood I will take money out of savings for the wrong reasons. While I am going through the whole process of resetting my password and waiting to gain access to the account, I have plenty of opportunities to think about whether I’m making the right choice.

If I’m motivated enough to actually deal with the process of withdrawing the funds, chances are good that the reason for the withdrawal is a good one that is justified. I’ve eliminated the possibility of taking the money out without thinking, by making it just difficult enough to access the funds that I have to think twice — and not so challenging that I can’t get the money out if there’s a good reason to.

Setting myself up for financial success is easy with some simple tricks

Making it difficult for me to get money out of savings is just one of many little financial tricks I’ve set for myself.

I’ve also taken other steps like removing my stored credit card information from websites where I tend to overspend so I need to manually enter payment details instead of just mindlessly clicking “buy.”

The point of these techniques is to make sure I force myself to think about what I’m doing with my money rather than acting on impulse. When I take the time to consider my actions, I’m much more likely to make the right financial choices.

If you want a simple way to increase the likelihood that you’ll stay on course with your money goals, it’s worth thinking about whether little such psychological tricks could work for you, too.

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