Name: Saving for tomorrow, tomorrow
Uploaded: 2012-02-23T16:40:23Z
Duration: 17 min 28 s
Description: It's easy to imagine saving money next week, but how about right now? Generally, we want to spend it. Economist Shlomo Benartzi says this is one of the biggest obstacles to saving enough for retirement, and asks: How do we turn this behavioral challenge into a behavioral solution?

It's easy to imagine saving money next week, but how about right now? Generally, we want to spend it. Economist Shlomo Benartzi says this is one of the biggest obstacles to saving enough for retirement, and asks: How do we turn this behavioral challenge into a behavioral solution?

Saving for tomorrow, tomorrow

Most people struggle to save for retirement, often because they favor spending now over planning for the future. In the United States, two-thirds of workers are not saving for retirement, and only a tiny fraction believe they save too much. Present bias, inertia, and loss aversion keep people stuck, even when they know better. A simple solution that lets people commit now to saving more later helps overcome these mental hurdles and dramatically boosts real-world savings.