One online habit could silently drain tens of thousand from your retirement savings

Retailers have figured out how to make you feel smart while emptying your wallet.

It’s the perfect psychological trap that’s costing Americans a fortune.

And this one online habit could silently drain $50K from your retirement savings.

“Spaving” sounds like a made-up word because it is. Retailers coined the term by mashing together “spending” and “saving” to describe the exact opposite of financial responsibility.¹ You’re adding items to your cart just to hit free shipping. Buying three sweaters when you only wanted one because the sale was “too good to pass up.” Stocking up on groceries you’ll never eat just to reach some magical coupon threshold.

Congratulations—you just got played. And you paid them for the privilege.

This isn’t new. Buy-one-get-one deals have existed forever. But retailers have weaponized these tactics with surgical precision in the digital age. Between March 2023 and March 2024, temporary price reductions jumped 72% while overall promotions rose 15%.² They’re not doing this because they love you. They’re doing it because it works.

The math behind this scam is brutal. Throw away $100 monthly on unnecessary “deals”—that’s $1,200 down the drain every year. Take that same cash and invest it instead at a reasonable 7% annual return over two decades. You’re sitting on more than $50,000.³ That’s your retirement savings circling the drain while you congratulated yourself for “getting a deal.”

Retailers turned shopping into psychological warfare

These companies employ teams of behavioral scientists whose entire job is figuring out how to extract maximum cash from your bank account. They’ve identified every cognitive weakness, every emotional trigger, every psychological vulnerability in the human brain.

The fake urgency tactics are everywhere. “Only 3 left in stock!” Really? How convenient that there are always “only 3 left” every time you check. “Sale ends tonight!” Except the same sale runs next week under a different name. “48% of millennials have spent money they didn’t have to keep up with friends,” one study found.⁴ That’s not shopping—that’s manufactured anxiety converted into profit.

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has started fining companies for misleading urgency tactics.⁵ The Federal Trade Commission warned American brands against deceptive scarcity claims. But good luck enforcing those rules when every retailer from Amazon to your local grocery store is running the same playbook.

Charles Chaffin, co-founder of the Financial Psychology Institute, nailed it: “If you’re spending more money because now you’re focused on the deal as opposed to what you’re getting, that’s when it becomes really, really dangerous.”⁶

The free shipping scam that costs you money

Here’s the classic spaving trap that gets people every single time. Your cart total is $42. Shipping costs $6. But wait—free shipping on orders over $50!

So you add a $12 item you don’t need to “save” that $6 shipping fee. Except you didn’t save anything. You spent $6 more than if you’d just paid for shipping. That’s not savings—that’s you falling for the oldest trick in the retail playbook.

Online shopping makes this infinitely worse. Those pop-up notifications aren’t there by accident. “Spend $100, Get 50% Off” sounds amazing until you realize you were only planning to spend $25. To get that “deal,” you’ll need to increase your budget by 100% just to reach the discounted price. You end up with products you never wanted, cluttering your house, all to chase an illusion of savings.

The whole setup plays on loss aversion—people hate missing out on perceived deals more than they enjoy actually saving money. Retailers know this. That’s why every email screams urgency, every website flashes countdown timers, and every ad promises exclusivity.

This habit destroys more than just retirement savings

Credit card debt hit $1.12 trillion in the first quarter of this year.⁷ A big chunk of that comes from people “spaving” their way into financial disaster. When you’re using credit cards to fund these “deals,” you’re paying interest on purchases you never needed in the first place. Those “savings” turn into debt that compounds against you instead of for you.

It’s not just about money. Nearly 40% of millennials admitted going into debt because of FOMO-fueled purchases.⁸ The psychological toll is real. The anxiety of keeping up with what everyone else appears to have. The stress of mounting debt. The regret when you realize your closet is full of clothes with tags still attached.

Retailers love the buy-more-save-more promotion. “Spend $500 and save $100” sounds fantastic until you remember you only came in for a $80 jacket. Without that fake discount dangling in front of you, you never would’ve spent $500. But the brain sees “$100 saved” and ignores the $420 in unnecessary spending.

Andrea Woroch, consumer savings expert, warns this pattern can “lead to excessive buying habits and high-interest credit card debt.”⁹ No kidding. It’s designed to create exactly that outcome.

How to stop getting scammed by your own spending

The solution is brutally simple. Before every purchase, ask yourself one question: Would I buy this if it weren’t on sale? If the answer is no, put it back. Don’t add it to your cart. Don’t convince yourself you’ll use it later. Just walk away.

Make a list before shopping and stick to it like your retirement depends on it—because it does. Every item you add that wasn’t on the list is costing your future self money. The 24-hour waiting period rule works wonders for impulse control. If you still want that item tomorrow, maybe it’s worth buying. Most of the time, the urge disappears once the artificial urgency wears off.

Here’s the real game-changer: redirect those “savings” immediately. Resist a purchase? Great. Move that exact amount into your savings or investment account right now. Watching that balance grow delivers the same dopamine hit as snagging a deal, except this time you’re actually building wealth instead of destroying it.

Track what you’re spending on these “deals” for one month. Write down every single purchase justified by a discount or promotion. The total will shock you. Multiply that by 12 months. Then by 20 years with compound interest. That’s the real cost of thinking you’re being a smart shopper.

Retailers have convinced millions of Americans that spending money equals saving money. It’s the biggest con job in modern commerce. Real wealth comes from not spending, not from spending “efficiently” on stuff you don’t need.

Your retirement savings aren’t going to rebuild themselves. Every dollar you waste today on fake deals is a dollar that could’ve been compounding for decades. The choice is yours—keep falling for marketing tricks disguised as savings, or start building actual financial security for your future.

¹ Michael Hershfield, CEO of Accrue, “What is Spaving? How Spending to Save Can Ruin Your Budget,” Today.com, July 29, 2024.

² “‘Americans can’t stop ‘spaving’ — here’s how to avoid this financial trap,” CNBC, May 7, 2024.

³ “‘Spaving’ is not saving. It could cost you up to $50,000 out of your retirement,” Fox News Opinion, October 26, 2025.

⁴ “The role of FOMO on consumer psychology,” Product Marketing Alliance, April 2, 2024.

⁵ “The Psychology of FOMO and How Brands Use It,” Kadence, February 25, 2025.

⁶ “Here’s how ‘spaving’ could hurt your finances,” CNBC, June 4, 2024.

⁷ Ibid.

⁸ “The Psychology of FOMO and How Brands Use It,” Kadence, February 25, 2025.

⁹ “Americans can’t stop ‘spaving’ — here’s how to avoid this financial trap,” CNBC, May 7, 2024.