FEELING CLOSER WITH FUTURE-SELF PROMOTES RETIREMENT PREPARATION OF YOUNGER AND OLDER WORKERS

Abstract

Abstract Working adults’ preparation for retirement and later life remains low despite past research has revealed its benefits on the well-being of retirees. This study utilized an experimental method to test whether the positive effect of exposure to future-self on retirement planning would be retained two weeks after the manipulation. Younger and middle-aged Hong Kong Chinese workers were recruited and were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions: exposure to a future-self photo plus a 5-day writing task (FSW), exposure to a future-self photo only (FS), exposure to a current-self photo plus a 5-day writing task (CSW), and exposure to a current-self photo only (CS). Participants in the FSW and CSW conditions were further asked to do a 5-day writing task. Intention to make retirement plans was assessed after viewing the future- or current-self photo (Time 1), while actual preparatory activities for retirement were also assessed two weeks after the photo viewing (Time 2). Preliminary analyses on 91 participants [41 younger (M=31.01,SD=5.55) and 51 middle-aged (M=50.04,SD=6.59) workers] showed significant interaction effects between condition and age on T2 overall retirement planning (F=4.06, p=.01, ηp2=.13) and financial planning (F=4.42, p=.006, ηp2=.14). Specifically, younger participants in the two future-self conditions had more preparatory activities than those in the CSW condition. Middle-aged workers in the FSW condition also reported more retirement preparation than those in the FS condition. These findings suggest that exposure to future-self increases retirement preparation in the short run, and such effect was stronger on younger workers than on older workers.