This Simple Personal Finance Hack Started as a Joke — But It's Actually Helping People Save Money, Experts Say Turns out, the trend that gained traction on TikTok could get you closer to your financial goals.
By Amanda Breen
Key Takeaways
- Lukas Battle's "loud budgeting" suggests people verbalize financial limitations to avoid overspending.
- Though it began as a joke on TikTok, research shows the strategy can have a positive impact on finances.
"Quiet luxury," or the trend of wearing pricey but understated fashion, might not resonate for most Americans — enter "loud budgeting."
Coined by 26-year-old comedian Lukas Battle in a TikTok video posted in December, "loud budgeting" comically flips "quiet luxury" on its head; the idea is to unapologetically verbalize your financial limitations to avoid overspending.
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Battle arrived at the term when his friends asked him to go out to an expensive Italian restaurant in Manhattan's East Village neighborhood. Instead of agreeing and overextending his budget, he was honest about his situation and suggested they cook at someone's house and have a game night.
That video garnered more than 1 million views and 1,000 comments, many of them from viewers in support of "loud budgeting."
"Loud budgeting is my new personality," one user wrote.
"I started loud budgeting this summer and it freed me," said another.
Americans are facing record-high debt, per Fox Business. According to a survey from real estate site Clever, more than half (61%) of respondents have credit card debt and owe an average of $5,875.
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Although "loud budgeting" might have started as a playful dig, the strategy has real potential to help people reach their financial goals. Behavioral economics research supports the idea that publicly announcing an intention to save money makes people more likely to do so, The Wall Street Journal reported.
"There's something to the idea of sharing financial constraints or saving intentions in a more open way that can be useful and good," Scott Rick, an associate professor of marketing at the University of Michigan who has studied what makes people overspend, told the outlet.
