Saving early and often is always a great idea. One of the biggest obstacles to long-term peace of mind and safety in your retirement is: You. If you realize that, then you’re on your way to realizing the retirement you deserve.
The good news: Academics are finding ways to make the future seem more immediate and demanding of attention in various contexts, including saving for retirement. The new techniques—hailing from the field of behavioral science—have been shown to motivate people to save more and earlier, advantages that give money more time to grow.
The bad news: The savings crisis is deepening as 52% of American households are at risk of being unable to maintain their standard of living in retirement, up from 45% in 2004, according to Boston College’s Center for Retirement Research. The center calculates a cumulative retirement savings shortfall of $6.4 trillion.
Here are a few ways to motivate yourself to save more sooner, drawing on the latest behavioral research.
For more on money and behavioral science read this piece I wrote on Michael Lewis’s The Undoing Project, and how “You Know How to Buy, but do You Know When to Sell?“
