Meet Your Future Self Before You Decide What to Save

You've told yourself you'll start putting money aside for the big thing someday: the sabbatical, the studio, the year you go part-time to build your own business. But someday feels far away, and this month's bills, gifts and small treats feel very close. So the money goes where it always goes.

That isn't a character flaw. It may have to do with how we picture the person we'll be later.

Your future self can feel like a stranger

Psychologist Hal Hershfield studies what he calls future self-continuity: how connected you feel to the person you'll be years from now. His work suggests that when that future person feels distant, almost like someone else, it's harder to give up something now for their benefit.

In a set of studies published in 2011 in the Journal of Marketing Research, Hershfield and colleagues had people interact with realistic, age-progressed images of themselves. Across most of the studies, people who saw their older selves chose to set aside more of a hypothetical sum for retirement, or picked a later, larger reward over a smaller, immediate one, compared with people who didn't. A U.S. Department of Labor review of the research notes that the result in the first study was not statistically significant, so it's fair to see this as promising lab evidence rather than a guarantee.

It's easier to save for someone you can actually picture.

Make your future self real

You don't need virtual reality. These are ways to bring the future closer, drawn from the idea behind the research rather than its exact methods:

• Write a letter from your future self. Date it five or ten years from now. What is she doing? What is she glad you started? What does she need from you today?
• Picture a specific day. Not "retired" or "free," but a Tuesday morning in that future life. Where are you? What are you making?
• Name the account after her. "Me at 50: the studio" or "Future me's sabbatical." A name can make the purpose harder to forget.
• Start with an amount you won't miss. The point at first is to build the connection, not to strain this month's budget.

This isn't financial advice, and the right amount depends on your situation. If you're making bigger decisions, a qualified financial professional can help you think them through.

Your dream has a future self too

The person you'll be in ten years isn't only a retiree with savings. She may also be the person who finally took the pottery course, published the book or launched the side business. Saving a little for her is a way of telling yourself that her life is worth planning for.

Where an accountability partner helps

Talking about the future out loud makes it more concrete. An accountability partner can ask what your future self wants, and check in on the small, regular steps you're taking toward her. When a month gets tight and you skip a deposit, they can help you restart without guilt.

This week

Write a short letter from yourself, ten years from now, to you today. Let her describe one ordinary day in a life where the thing you care about is part of it. Then set up or rename one savings account after her and make a small first deposit.