Why your future self feels like a stranger
Many people treat their future self like another person. The psychologist Hal Hershfield puts it this way: if it feels like a stranger, there is as little reason to save for it as to hand money to a stranger.
In a small study of 50 people, some saw an aged image of themselves. Of an imagined US$1,000 they put US$172 towards retirement on average, the others US$80. That is 2.15 times as much. The money was imagined, not real.
Whoever sees their future self more clearly treats it less like a stranger.
2.15 × as much for retirement after seeing an aged picture of oneself.
Averages from study 1 of Hershfield and others (2011), 50 participants, imagined US$1,000. A small study, not a rule.
Questions people ask
Why is it hard to save for your own future?
One explanation from psychology: the future self feels like another person, and there is little reason to give money to a stranger.
What did seeing an aged picture of oneself change?
In a study with 50 people, those who saw it put $172 of an imagined $1,000 towards retirement on average, the others $80.
Does Beam work the same way?
Beam shows a financial self and the year it arrives. Whether that changes behaviour the way the study found has not been measured.
Source: Hershfield (2011), Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1235, S. 30 bis 43, as of 2011, retrieved 2026-10-29 · Hershfield and others (2011), Journal of Marketing Research 48, S23 bis S37, as of 2011, retrieved 2026-10-29
A study about seeing yourself older, in two figures.
The simulation, the comparison and the Beam stay free.
Education, not advice. Disclaimer