This topic is one I discussed in a recent HR.com Nov 7, 2012 webinar ‘Save More Tomorrow’ which is the work of Dr. Shlomo Benartzi. The article from the link below discusses the behavioral finance issues around getting individuals to identify with themselves in the future; in this case, saving for retirement inside of a 401(k) plan.
The problem:
In a 2011 study cited by Merrill Edge (Merrill Lynch’s online discount brokerage), Stanford behavioral economics researchers say that we’re often reluctant to save for retirement because deep down we don’t identify with that older person we’ll one day be: “To people estranged from their future selves, saving is like a choice between spending money today or giving it to a stranger years from now.”
The solution:
Face Retirement lives up to the catty double meaning in its name. Using a facial aging algorithm, the web app snaps a photo of you with your laptop’s camera and then shows you what you’ll look like at 47, 57, 67 and so on, all the way to 107.
To read full article, click below
http://tinyurl.com/b5maz6l
