This week, I’ve been running my spending decisions past someone I’ve never met — and never will meet. Before I reach for my wallet to buy something, I seek her opinion.
‘Shall I buy these lovely navy loafers?’ I asked on Thursday.
‘Hold fire,’ she replied. ‘Try to mend your old ones first.’ (She’s right — repairing shoes is easier than I’d thought, as my colleague Toby Walne shows).
Then, at the weekend, I asked her: ‘Shall I take my mum and aunt out for lunch?’
‘Yeah, live it up,’ she replied. ‘Go and make some nice memories.’
![Think twice - spend less: Cut down on rash purchases by really questioning whether you need something - your future self will thank you for it](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/05/09/15/70774619-12064153-image-a-1_1683643297556.jpg)
Think twice – spend less: Cut down on rash purchases by really questioning whether you need something – your future self will thank you for it
So who is this spending adviser I’ve been consulting?
It’s Future Me.
Now, wait. Before you write me off as bonkers, hear me out.
I’ve been trying an experiment to help get better at saving — and I think it could help you, too.
On Wednesday, I went to see a brilliant new documentary called Your 100 Year Life.
Produced by the pension specialists Cardano and Bill & Ben Productions, the film explores how people are living for longer and what that means for society and individuals.
It suggests that if we’re living for longer, the old life model — whereby we get our education when we’re young, work for a few decades and then retire — is no longer fit for purpose.
We will live longer… so plan or it
Instead, we will need to retrain regularly throughout our lives, earn for much longer and gradually work less, rather than having a hard stop at retirement age.
It also concludes that if we’re living longer, we need to save more for our senior years.
Now, you don’t need me to tell you that doing that can be hugely problematic.
First, the rising cost of living means that millions of people are already struggling with funding today, let alone thinking about saving for tomorrow.
And second, saving money is hard and much less fun than spending it. It takes real willpower to relinquish something tangible today for something hypothetical in the future.
In the film, Dan Ariely, a professor of psychology and behavioural economics, mentions the findings of a study, which he thinks could help.
In the study, participants were shown pictures of their own faces which had been digitally altered to make them look older. The research found that when people were confronted with the older version of themselves, their decision-making was more likely to take their future self into account, and they found it easier to make choices that factored in the long term.
Ariely explains: ‘If you think about it, the decisions we have to make about savings are about giving up something now for that future self.
‘If that future self is a stranger, how much will I give up? If I feel really close to that future self, maybe I’ll give up more.’
I’ve given Future Me a pay rise
Since watching the film, I have been experimenting with this idea and trying to make better friends with my future self.
It’s easy enough to find a filter on social media sites such as Instagram or TikTok that will transform your image to make it appear older.
I’ve been doing it the old- fashioned way by trying to imagine an older, Future Me in my mind’s eye. The more I do it, the less strange and more logical it seems. After all, the spending decisions I am making now will affect both of us.
If I relinquish those loafers today and put the money into my pension, it could mean Future Me can afford to buy two pairs in a few decades’ time, thanks to pension tax relief, contributions from my employer and the power of investment returns.
If I buy them now, she may not get any new shoes.
I won’t be consulting Future Me for all my spending decisions. It’s slightly mind-blowing. And I have to trust that Future Me, should she exist (and I very much hope she does), will have compassion for my fallibility. I hope she’d also want me to live in the moment.
But I will continue to consult her when I’m making the big financial decisions.
If you try out the Future You experiment, do let me know how you get on. I’ve just given Future Me a pay rise by slightly increasing my monthly pension contributions. She can thank me later.