5.9. The problem of storage and accumulation of money - the psychology of money

From a social point of view, the storage of money (with the exception of intentionally putting it into growth with subsequent use for living) is associated with the creation of moral and material support "for a rainy day." It can be diseases, natural disasters, economic crises, etc. Psychological causes probably lie much deeper, since the tendency to accumulate manifests itself much earlier than a person realizes the possibility of future disasters.

Psychoanalysis considered the attraction to money as a result of subconscious processes of accumulation, starting in early childhood, when a child delays defecation, taking feces as his first wealth (he can consider them as toys, attracts this attention of parents). This manner of the child is subsequently transformed into economic behavior. A thrifty adult grows out of a child who is stopping a bowel movement;

In behaviorist theories, money is considered as conditional reinforcement in the learning process. Experiments have shown that both humans and animals quickly assimilate the purpose of reward, which can be eaten, exchanged or otherwise disposed of. B. Skinner argued that money is only conditional reinforcement associated with a variety of goods and services that can serve as unconditional reinforcement. The desire to save them, turning them into a conservative commercial value, is associated mostly with security. In striving for it, people inevitably alienate from others. Fear of being rejected or offended turns into horror before a robbery. In economic behavior, this is expressed in hoarding.

The tendency to keep money can be a psychological trait of a person, but it is successfully supported by living conditions, the development of banking infrastructure, and the sustainability of a country's development. Historically, the first type of storage of money - treasures. These are gold and silver coins and bars, as well as non-precious metals withdrawn from circulation for the purpose of accumulation, saving from danger, for ritual purposes. The problem of treasures as a means of storing wealth is characteristic of countries in which the banking system began to develop lately, there was a distrust of state economic actions, and military and political events often occurred that radically changed power, hierarchies, and boundaries. One of these countries is the pre-revolutionary Russia and the USSR. A large number of treasures were in the territory of the Moscow principality, in Belarus. Banks there arose later than in Europe. After the revolution, cities often found treasures in which things, money and documents were hidden for a short time. In St. Petersburg for the period 1923-1928. the treasures were often taken by the owners, secretly penetrating into the storehouses (walled-up rooms, niches, basements, pits in wood sheds, etc.). By the way, these events were captured in the urban folklore - anecdotes, tabloid songs, detective stories of the time. Treasures for a long time were found by new tenants during apartment redevelopment, repairs, after bombing during the war. The creation of such treasures was caused by social circumstances of various kinds, and the find should be reported to the authorities.

Today, treasures have undergone a significant transformation: money does not bury or wall up. In our country, according to specialists, a large number of savings in rubles and foreign currency, practically withdrawn from circulation, is kept in the hands. This is the so-called "stocking". Having even small amounts in their hands, the population of the country still does not know how to make them work. This is due to distrust of banking structures, securities, high risk, along with unsecured and low income. Another way to save money by modern methods is to transfer to foreign banks. In the sense of these savings not only treasures, but also a means of enrichment. A peculiar store of value is also the purchase of property abroad.

Psychologically, introverts are more prone to shelter treasure, cautious, suspicious people who have a difficult time suffering losses. According to N. Forman, who developed a monetary typology of personalities, the treasure is likely to hide a “miser”, for whom money plays the role of a symbol of protection, security, and therapy.

A specific type of accumulation of money, more precisely, enrichment, is counterfeiting, which highlighted the type of people, preferring the easy way of making big money outside the creation of material or spiritual values. Counterfeiting has arisen, figuratively speaking, on the second day after the invention of coins in the Asia Minor Kingdom of Lydia in the VII century BC. Cities paying tribute to the ruler quickly learned that, by deteriorating the composition of the alloy, a lot of money could be saved. From the 6th century BC onwards (starting with the notorious Croesus) laws were issued on the exclusive right to coin minting, on the introduction of the death penalty for the fabrication of counterfeit coins, on a special state service to control their quality, etc. The initiators and patrons of the production of counterfeit money are often turned out to be rulers. They needed money to replenish the treasury during the civil wars, the collapse of states, economic crises, the abundance of royal debts (due to unhurried economic development, it was possible to clarify that the country was overflowing with counterfeit money, kings had time to pay off a large part of the debts). Counterfeiting was a trade of high-ranking and ordinary fraudsters during the days of coin farming. The sense of fraud was to alleviate the weight of the coins or reduce the amount of precious metal in it, due to which enrichment occurred. Later connected with this and making fake paper money.

Perhaps the attitude towards money is not accumulative, but collector's. Collecting money had nothing to do with enrichment. It arose about 600 years after the first coin was made. Then the hour has struck for manufacturers of counterfeit coins.

Many norms and rules of behavior in certain segments of the population were formed on the basis of the goals of preserving wealth in one hand. These are the rules of inheritance of the English nobility (the heir is the eldest son), such is the rule of celibacy (celibacy of the Catholic clergy), adopted in the thirteenth century in order not to split up church lands between the heirs.