Rein In Your Desires, Don't Let Instant Gratification Get Better Of Your Financial Decisions

The gap between desiring something and purchasing it has never been shorter than it is today. Amid the rising popularity of quick commerce apps and quick payment methods like Unified Payments Interface (UPI), instant deliveries are slowly becoming the norm. Whether it is the craving for the cool tang of a soft drink on a hot day or the allure of skipping the hustle-bustle of the vegetable market, we want it now.

Add to the mix, credit cards and Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) schemes and you can purchase what you desire without even having the funds to do so. However, instant deliveries often accompany the not-so-instant guilt when the bills for these impulse purchases start coming in.

Data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for the 12-month period ending December 2024 shows that the amount defaulted on in the credit card segment by customers stood at Rs 6,742 crore, a 28.42 per cent rise year-on-year (y-o-y).

Instant gratification may manifest itself in many forms and may even provide a sense of power. However, it actually strips an individual’s control over their finances.

Jahnavi Tiwari, 26, a product designer at a fintech firm based in Noida defines instant gratification as buying things without planning a lot. “I know that you can weigh things, you can see a lot of options, compare prices and do all of that. But for me personally, it’s a little bit of a hasty decision. Like I wouldn’t take a month or a week to decide on something. I would rather take a day or two. And if I really want to buy it, I would just go for it then and there.”

She does realise though that it can be challenging. Her recent impulse buys led to an expense of `10,000 which she regrets in retrospect. “I was supposed to go on a trip to Europe and I couldn’t stop myself from shopping for it. I bought shoes for Rs 10,000 just out of nowhere to create an ‘airport look’,” says Jahnavi.

What’s The Trigger?

Jahnavi’s case is not unique, many individuals give in to instant gratification. According to Rajeev Anantram, Professor of Economics at International Management Institute Delhi, technology is simply an enabling platform for tendencies to splurge and gratify ourselves instantly.

He says: “It’s not simply access to money, instant gratification comes from within you. One factor that I would identify would be peer pressure. Second, increasingly we are becoming isolated as a society, people are actually crawling back into their shells and this has been exacerbated with ready access to social media. So, essentially when you are actually with people socialising or have other kinds of healthy diversions, then you are less likely to feel the need to shop.”

How Do You Resist Instant Gratification?

Having a financial goal can be the easiest way to resist spending on items you can’t afford or need.

Once you have a larger financial goal, you will need to assess how much you need to save to reach that threshold.

Once the savings are taken care of, you will have a realistic sense of how much money you are actually left with.

You will then have to accommodate expenses, including utilities, within what’s left with you. This will curb your habit of spending on a whim.

Try saving for a short-term goal to understand the merits of delayed gratification.