We kick off part one of our two-part series by exploring how gamification can make saving money feel less like a chore and more like a motivating challenge. Even high-income earners often feel stuck when it comes to saving, not because they lack discipline, but because they’ve already checked the big boxes—maxed out retirement accounts, built up emergency funds—and then don’t know what to do next. Without a plan, spending creeps in to fill the gap. So we look at how to turn savings into a game—something with rules, progress, and rewards—to reignite momentum.
We clarify that knowing you should save doesn’t automatically lead to action. That’s where gamification steps in. Tools like Qapital show that users who engage with automation and gaming strategies save more and stay more engaged. We also reference employer-based incentives like those offered through Secure 2.0, where bonuses are tied to increased retirement contributions.
One easy place to start is by automating just one transfer—no matter how small—to reduce decision fatigue. Then, to make it stick, we frame savings as something familiar and motivating. For example, we explore the idea of treating savings like a “debt to your future self,” flipping a psychologically powerful habit like debt aversion into a positive financial behavior.
Amy shares a client case study of a high-earning couple who couldn’t get traction with savings—until they started treating their savings goal like a debt that needed to be paid off. That mindset shift helped them redirect thousands per month into future-focused goals.
Then we move into more playful territory, introducing practical games to get people started. These include “Level Up” savings, where every $500 or $1,000 milestone brings a sense of progress; “No Spend” challenges, focused on key problem areas like Amazon or takeout; and visual trackers like progress bars stuck on the fridge. Even simple things like rounding up purchases and transferring the change can reinforce good habits.
The big takeaway is to pick one area where spending tends to leak—Amazon, dining out, etc.—and pair it with one of these gamified saving techniques. You can even stack methods for greater impact. The key is to make saving easier, more visual, and more rewarding—so it becomes a behavior you actually want to continue.
In part two, we’ll dive deeper into building out a full gamified system with recovery plans, rewards, and design tips. For now, we encourage listeners to find just one game that resonates and start today.
Jon Gay (00:07):
Welcome back to ThimbleberryU. I'm Jon Jag Gay, joined as always by Amy Walls from Thimbleberry Financial. Hello Amy.
Amy Walls (00:13):
Hi, Jag.
Jon Gay (00:14):
So, today, we're doing a first in a two-part series. We're talking about something that might sound a little gimmicky, but it's actually not: gamifying your savings. If you're someone who's making good money but feeling a little stuck or maybe even uninspired when it comes to saving more of it, this one is for you.
Amy Walls (00:31):
Yeah, Jag, I'm excited about this topic too. You and our listeners, you work hard for your income, but knowing you should save more doesn't always equate to doing more in terms of savings. So, gamification gives us a new way in. The truth is motivation helps, but action is what builds real financial momentum.
Jon Gay (00:55):
Sure. Everything works in theory until you have to actually put it into practice to see results.
Amy Walls (01:00):
Absolutely.
Jon Gay (01:01):
Now, again, this is of course educational, not personal advice. If you need advice about your situation, you can reach out to Amy directly. We'll give her contact info at the end of the show.
So, Amy, why does so many smart high-income people get stuck when it comes to saving?
Amy Walls (01:14):
Well, the bottom line is many don't know where to save, and let me put this into perspective. You may be a high-income earner and you've maximum funded the highest amount you can. Your 401(k) or your 403(b), your cash reserve is decent, and you don't know where to put the other money. And when that's the case, spending often steps in as the norm.
I've worked with couples earning over $600,000 a year, and it may be difficult for them to cut $2,000 a month out of lifestyle creep and redirect it to savings just because they've gotten used to the pattern of behavior. Just like we talked about, the action of saving is what gets you somewhere, the action of spending also wants to continue as an action.
Jon Gay (02:00):
It's that momentum. You put that amount of income, you're talking about $2,000 a month, it's surprising that people can struggle at that level.
Amy Walls (02:07):
Yeah, I mean, here's the thing; earning money and taking action to build savings are two completely different skill sets. Like I said earlier, motivation helps, but it's action that creates that momentum. Action begets more action. And so, what we have to do is find an avenue for starting action.
Jon Gay (02:27):
I feel like we're getting into a Newton law of physics about (chuckles) – okay, so this is about finding ways to turn that first step into something easier, right?
Amy Walls (02:35):
Absolutely. And that's where gamification can give people a big boost.
Jon Gay (02:41):
What is one simple move we can make today?
Amy Walls (02:44):
Well, this isn't exactly gamification, but it's automate one transfer. Just go and set up a transfer. It could be $20, it could be $50, it could be a couple thousand dollars depending on your financial situation. The amount is less important than removing the decision friction.
Jon Gay (03:04):
And you said earlier, this isn't just fluff. As we start to get into the gamification piece of it, what kind of evidence is there that the gamification will actually work?
Amy Walls (03:15):
Sometimes when I hear gamification, I think of cute little apps and such. I've got this one really amazing app that is really cute that makes me take care of myself, it's gamification. But financially, Qapital users who used automation rules were 1.5 to 3.5 times more likely to hit their goals. Qapital's own data also shows gamified users save more and log in more frequently.
So, right there, those are two good signs. There's another tool called Secure 2.0, and it allows employers to offer $250 to employees who increase retirement savings to another way to gamify.
Jon Gay (03:58):
I want to go back to the point you made a second ago, Amy, about logging in more often. That's the gamification piece of it because it's like, “Oh, I can look and see the results.” It's like getting coins in Mario or whatever it is (chuckles).
Even the interest-bearing savings account that I opened a couple of years ago, I'm logging in more often to see how much interest I'm getting every month. So, that makes total sense.
Amy Walls (04:19):
You're going for the dopamine hit.
Jon Gay (04:21):
That's exactly right (chuckles). So, we're not just tricking ourselves, this is actually science-based behavior.
Amy Walls (04:26):
Absolutely.
Jon Gay (04:28):
Alright, so can you give me an example of how this will play out in real life, Amy?
Amy Walls (04:31):
Yeah. We all know people who are pretty debt averse. Great habit or belief. So, I'm thinking of somebody, a couple who was very debt averse and previously had success paying down large amounts of debt. They paid down the debt pretty rapidly, and now, are debt averse.
Now, as higher income earners, they're having a hard time saving because then, they had all this free cash flow, it became part of lifestyle. And so, in their financial planning, we have found they need to save more. But to save more, you have to cut expenses, if you're spending the money already. And where a lot of people get frozen is thinking I need to look at my expenses and I need to reduce my expenses before I save more.
That can happen depending on where your expenses are. But basically, they said, “Yes, we agree, we need to cut expenses, we need to save more.” They couldn't get traction around looking at their expenses to make decisions. So, instead, I said, “Gosh, if you need to save this much over the next year, treat it like a credit card debt.”
And they set up a plan, they looked at that, and they said, “We don't want this debt.” Great. And they set up a plan right away to get that paid off, and are now going to be putting thousands of dollars a month towards that goal that they not find because they had cut expenses.
Jon Gay (05:59):
I think we've all seen stories of people who climbed out of debt, and for that reason, they’re so like you said, debt averse. So, I love that reframing of, don't think of it as saving, thinking of it as a debt to yourself. And that changes the mindset of, okay, I've got to get this debt paid off, I've got to save X per month or X per year almost like another bill.
Amy Walls (06:16):
Yep, exactly. And that's really what savings is. We've talked previously about set your savings up first before you spend. But in this case, the gamification is telling yourself, no, I am paying a bill rather than I'm paying a bill to pay off debt.
Jon Gay (06:33):
If there are any ‘90s kids listening, you got to feed that – was it Tamagotchi or whatever it was (laughs). Alright, let's make this actionable, Amy. What are some actual games people can try besides the example you just gave?
Amy Walls (06:45):
Yeah. So, if you want to start saving today, pair a couple that could work. Level up your savings. So, treat every (and you got to pick your number based on your financial situation) $500, a thousand dollars saved as a new level in a game.
So, if you've got this long-term goal, you could break that down into smaller bites and say every time I hit a new thousand dollars saved, that's a win, I get to level up. And building those small goals and those milestones are really a key to success, because you get motivation from achievement and you get more action from that. The other thing is, at milestones, to give yourself a small reward.
Jon Gay (07:30):
So, maybe you go out to a nice dinner every a thousand dollars you save or something.
Amy Walls (07:33):
Exactly. We've all heard of the no spend strategies. I'm not going to spend money for a year. For example, outside of groceries, we're not going to buy clothing as a household. Okay, let's not go that far, but that can work.
For our clients, maybe there's a specific area like dining out that they know this is where we blow our budget. We get busy and we just Grubhub and Uber Eats, and all the things happen, or our neighborhood restaurants happen.
So, they may say, we're not going to spend money on food other than groceries, maybe started for seven days, or no Amazon for seven days.
Jon Gay (08:17):
That one's hard.
Amy Walls (08:18):
Right? And you hit it for seven days. Let's try it for 14 days. I know somebody that did the no dining for 14 days, that was their goal. Quickly became a month. They just kept going with it.
Jon Gay (08:30):
What do they say? It takes like 28 days to form a habit? I remember, I think-
Amy Walls (08:34):
I think it's 21.
Jon Gay (08:35):
21, okay. And I think I did dry January last couple of years, and I was like, “Oh, I guess I don't really miss beer that much.”
Amy Walls (08:43):
Exactly. It's amazing once you get in the habit, what happens. A progress bar dashboard, track savings visually. So, maybe this ties to the first one I talked about, that level up savings, but have some visual dashboard that as you hit it, you can see where you're at, trying to get there.
I happen to like putting things like that on the refrigerator because everybody eats and it's very visual. Nobody has to know what it is. If you have people over, it can be very generic looking, but you get to color it in.
Jon Gay (09:16):
I'm thinking of those old school fundraiser thermometers. We need so much money for the PTA and the red grows and grows and grows. You're right: your guests that come to the house don't have to know what that is. That could just be something your kid drew at school for all they know.
Amy Walls (09:29):
Exactly. Roundup Quest. Now, some banks have done this on their own, but for each card purchase, round up money into savings. So, this one's a little trickier because it takes a little math unless you have a bank that will help you do that, and send that into an account.
And then I talked about using a savings goal as debt, and I know you asked for different ideas. But I do think this one's a really good one, and so I want to frame it in a slightly different way. It's not that you're paying off a debt, but you're paying a loan to future you.
Jon Gay (10:02):
Yeah, like we talked about. I am notorious for not budgeting for things that's coming up. For example, I'm going to a podcast convention this month and I haven't budgeted the hotel and spending money and all that. So, if I look at it as I owe that money to my future self, I need to pay it off, that's a good way to look at it.
Amy Walls (10:21):
Exactly.
Jon Gay (10:22):
Like I owe future Jag $3,000 for peace of mind.
Amy Walls (10:29):
Yeah.
Jon Gay (10:29):
Alright. So, as we start to wrap up, Amy, give me a takeaway here for our listeners in part one of this two-part series.
Amy Walls (10:35):
Since we're talking about gamification, I have all these visuals running through my head. Find a spending category that leaks. Like Amazon, like the dining out that I used earlier. Pick one area; one area that you think without even necessarily doing research, “I'm overspending here, we're overspending here.”
Now, of course, if you have a partner in your financial life, you're going to want to come to some agreement about that category and what you're going to do about it. Don't just choose it and say you're going to do it, but choose one of the games we mentioned and start around.
Pick a way that you're going to move forward trying not to spend as much in that category and save that money instead.
Jon Gay (11:20):
I like it.
Amy Walls (11:21):
And you can also double up. I think that's an important thing. You can take a couple of these concepts and put them together to make it more powerful and fit you.
Jon Gay (11:31):
Yeah, it really comes down to what works for you. And that's kind of a nice overview and probably a good stopping point for us here in part one of our two-part series on gamification here.
In part two, we're going to go a little bit more in depth. We'll give you the full playbook, rewards, recovery plans, how to design your system from scratch. In the meantime, Amy, if somebody wants to come talk to you and your team at Thimbleberry Financial about anything related to their financial future, what are the best ways to reach you?
Amy Walls (11:53):
Yeah, they can reach us at thimbleberryfinancial.com or at (503)-610-6510.
[Music Playing]
Jon Gay (12:01):
Good stuff, Amy. We'll talk again in a couple weeks.
Amy Walls (12:03):
Sounds good.
Voiceover (12:04):
Securities offered through registered representatives of Cambridge Investment Research, Inc., a broker dealer, member of FINRA/SIPC, advisory services through Cambridge Investment Research Advisors, Inc., a registered investment advisor. Cambridge and Thimbleberry Financial are not affiliated.
Discussions in this show should not be construed as specific recommendations or investment advice. Always consult with your investment professional before making important investment decisions.
Securities offered through registered representatives of Cambridge Investment Research, Inc., a broker dealer, member of FINRA/SIPC, advisory services through Cambridge Investment Research Advisors, Inc., a registered investment advisor. Cambridge and Thimbleberry Financial are not affiliated.