How Writing a Letter to Your Future Self Can Save You Money

Why It Matters

If a simple exercise like writing to your future self measurably increases healthy habits, it could be an inexpensive, scalable nudge to improve personal savings and curb impulsive spending, with broad implications for financial planning and behavioral interventions.

Summary

In a brief explainer, David Brancaccio highlights research from the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied showing that writing a letter to your future self creates psychological continuity that changes behavior. In the study, undergraduates who wrote to their future selves increased physical activity by about four minutes per day in the following weeks. Brancaccio argues the same mechanism can help people resist impulse purchases and boost saving by strengthening ties to their future identity. He invites viewers to submit questions about long-term financial and health planning.

Original Description

Could writing letters to your future self improve your financial habits?

For David Brancaccio’s new beat, he’s reading a lot of old research to learn how we can be more forward thinking about our money.

Have questions about how to make money easier for your future self? Tell us in the comments.