Meeting Your Future Self

Younger Americans may feel as if retirement is so far off that they don't even need to worry about it. But researchers at Stanford University have identified a tool that may prompt them to start saving money for the years ahead.

See also: Smart money moves to make by age 50.

Using virtual reality goggles, the scientists showed a group of people under age 34 what their faces would look like at age 70. In a subsequent analysis, they found that those who "met" their future selves were likely to save more money for retirement. Study founder Hal Hershfield, working with Allianz Global Investors, hopes to provide the technology to financial planners who work with younger clients.

In this segment of Inside E Street, we see this study at work.

More Information

Increasing Saving Behavior Through Age-Progressed Renderings of the Future Self (pdf)

Allianz Global Investors Center for Behavioral Finance

Also of interest: Will you have enough money for a comfortable retirement?