Your (Virtual) Future Self Wants You to Save Up (NPR)

Experts say one of the barriers to saving for retirement is psychological. Overcoming that barrier could be as simple as having a young person see into the future. Researchers at New York University’s Stern School of Business used virtual reality to let college-age men and women interact with their 70-year-old selves. Study participants were later asked a series of questions about finances and retirement. Those who had seen their future self were willing to put twice as much into long-term savings accounts as those who had seen their current self. Programs to age uploaded pictures are available online now, but they are crude. “The idea is to create a tool that either financial advisors can use with their clients, or that could be incorporated into the services that a 401(k) plan provider offers to their clients,” says Cathy Smith of the Center for Behavioral Finance, part of Allianz Global Investors.