NPR. Several years ago, Sam Patasopoulos was a business student in San Diego, and she knew one thing in her life had to change.

I wasn't working out at all, to be it was it was something that I always wanted to do like growing up I really admired the people that were on the sports teams I was not one of those people

and as Sam was trying to get fitter she tried forcing herself to go to the gym, she even

tried restricting her food intake. I was trying to develop habits in all of the worst ways. So it was looking at that piece of,

okay, I want to develop healthy habits,

so what could I bring into my life that may help that balance improve?

That's something, it turns out, financial incentives.

This is the indicator from Planet Money, I'm Adrian Ma.

And I'm Darren Woods.

As we close one year and we begin another, maybe this will be the time that you finally

become a kite surfer or volunteer at the catch shelter. Whatever it is, behavioral economics can help.

So today on the show, building a happy new years, how rewarding or penalizing yourself

with cash can make new habits stick. Support for NPR and the following message come from Betterment, an automated investing and savings app.

CEO Sarah Levy shares Betterment's philosophy on investing.

No matter the amount of money you have, it's always good to be invested.

It's always good to start early.

It's always good to save.

And the power of being consistent in your habits is really the path to long-term wealth

Get started at betterment.com investing involves risk performance is not guaranteed.

At the age of 20, Sam was just about to graduate college in San Diego

and she was determined to find a way to reach her fitness goals.

I end up surrounded by research papers

...