You Need to Know What Happens When You Make Savings Urgent

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.

E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zildjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West (RIP JB) and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com To sign up for my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter, click here.