📤 How to pay yourself first in the UAE: The habit that doubles your savings
- Kacper Duda
- Aug 27, 2025
- 4 min read
If there’s one habit that can completely change your finances, it’s this: pay yourself first. Research shows people who do save more than double compared to those who don’t (2.08x, to be exact). Why miss out?
Read on to find out:
What the pay-yourself-first approach is
How to set it up in the UAE
The behavioural science that makes it work
In the news - Dubai’s first-time buyer programme heats up: early access and 5% discounts land
PS: We’ve recently relaunched our LinkedIn page, where we’ll be posting more weekly money tips, so make sure you head to our new profile and follow us so you don’t miss out!
What does it mean to pay yourself first?
Paying yourself first is a budgeting method that prioritises your savings by securing them before you get a chance to spend on something else.
The principle is simple: On the day you get paid, make sure you transfer the savings portion of your salary away to a savings account. Ideally, this process should be automated so you don’t let your habits get in the way (scroll down for more on these behaviours).
💵 Here’s why it works: People who set up automated transfers every payday save on average 2.08x more than those using other methods. (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 2022)
Throughout this article, we talk about savings and savings accounts. If you’re on an investment journey, that’s fine. The same principles apply: just transfer the savings portion into your investment platform.
How to pay yourself first in the UAE?
The goal is to ensure that your savings leave your salary account on payday. Depending on who you bank with, there may be 3 ways of setting this up:
Online banking - By far the easiest, though not always widely available. Look to set up a “Standing instruction” (sometimes also called “Standing order” or “Scheduled/recurring transfer”). If your savings account is in the same bank as your salary account, you may find this option at the savings account.
Telephone / branch banking - For banks that don’t support online standing orders, you can call or visit a branch to set up the “Standing instruction”. You’ll specify the amount, the destination account, and the monthly date on which you want your funds transferred.
A calendar / task reminder - If neither option works, set a payday reminder to transfer money manually. Don’t tick it off until the transfer’s done (extra dopamine bonus when you do!).
Don’t know how much to save?
Your starting point should be your budget (yes, everyone should have one!). This determines how much you spend every month and the amount left over for savings.
We always encourage people to build their budgets bottom-up, from non-negotiable expenses like rent, food, schooling fees, transportation through to nice-to-have lifestyle expenses.
If you haven’t got one yet, you can use our Money Luna budgeting tool that’s built specifically for the UAE as a starting point.
Behavioural science: Why paying yourself works
Many of the things we do and don’t do are driven by our psyche and trained behaviours. The paying-yourself-first approach is actually rooted in behavioural science, and turns our mental quirks from obstacles into advantages. Here is how we trick our brains:
Inertia - We stick with defaults. Normally, the default is “spend, then maybe save.” An automated transfer flips that: the default becomes “save first,” and you’re unlikely to change it.
Present bias - That brunch invite or flash sale will always feel more urgent than savings. By moving money the moment it lands, you bypass the bias and stop temptation before it starts.
Loss aversion - Psychologically, we see money transferred into savings as ‘lost’. Automatically transferring savings on payday doesn’t give the brain a chance to see it as lost income (particularly when it’s gone the same day).
Mental accounting - As human beings, we naturally segregate our funds. Moving money into a savings account early (even if it is an easy-access account) reinforces that segregation and makes us far less likely to dip into that pot for everyday expenses.
By paying ourselves first, we play the system to minimise our need for willpower whilst using our trained behaviours to reinforce the outcomes. A win-win on all fronts that your future self will thank you for.
IN THE NEWS - Dubai’s first-time buyer programme heats up: early access and 5% discounts land
Last month, we wrote about the DLD’s newly launched (though sparsely detailed) programme designed to help first-time buyers into home ownership.
The good news is the programme is picking up pace, with developers like Wasl providing eligible participants with exclusive early access to new launches. Binghatti has gone further and is offering buyers a 5% discount with no project or location restrictions.
We expect others to follow, as well as preferential financing options to become more widely available. For now, you can read about these latest developments in this Gulf News article.
Disclaimer: Please bear in mind that this email does not constitute financial advice. Any choices you make you are solely responsible for. We always aim to provide highest quality, independent views but do your own research to ensure you’re comfortable with any changes you make to your personal finances.
