Technology Today: Catching a Glimpse of Your Future Self
The technology of today is now allowing for the unimaginable: enabling people to catch a glimpse at their future selves. Popular new apps circulating around social media have been showing younger folks what they might likely look like if they live to reach a more seasoned age. It’s a fun approach for the curious but maybe there’s a deeper reason for this interest.
Studies show that the fascination with glimpsing our future selves goes beyond mere amusement. It taps into our innate curiosity about the passage of time and our desire for self-reflection. By visualizing our future selves, we are prompted to contemplate the choices we make today and their potential impact on our long-term well-being.
Following the conclusion of The Plan Sponsor University (TPSU) Fiduciary Education Program at Villanova University in Villanova, Pennsylvania, Founder and CEO Fred Barstein spoke with Adjunct Lecturer Richard Hepp about the concept of “Future Selves.”
Read the Full Transcript Here:
Fred Barstein: Fred Barstein with 401kTV here at Villanova University where we just completed a TPSU program. Here with the adjunct lecturer, Rich Hepp. Welcome Rich.
Rich Hepp: Thank you, Fred.
Fred Barstein: Okay if we ask you a few questions?
Rich Hepp: Sure.
Fred Barstein: So Rich is an advisor with Wharton Hill Advisors and they’re one of the largest defined contribution advisors in the country located here in the Fort Washington area-
Rich Hepp: Correct.
Fred Barstein: Of Pennsylvania. This was their first TPSU program. How was this for you?
Rich Hepp: It was good. It was exciting. I thought it was well run, well organized, so I thought it went-
Fred Barstein: Just good, that’s all we are.
Rich Hepp: It was well run. It was great.
Fred Barstein: Good. Okay, so one of the things that you brought up a lot in this was this concept of future self. So where did you learn about future self?
Rich Hepp: So I am freshly minted out of UCLA University where I did the TPSU event for the CKP and what they were really focusing on, what really struck home for that whole week I there was intuitively, I know in dealing with plan sponsors and the participants specifically, is that this hesitation to get involved in the plan is because they’re overwhelmed and they just they’re concerned about their new job, their pay, and their healthcare. The immediate things that they use.
Fred Barstein: Sure.
Rich Hepp: So, this Professor Hirschfield at UCLA was really focusing on some of the reasons that we intuitively know people don’t think about the future, meaning retirement, is because they can’t think of their future self. They actually went through a whole scientific experiment that, without going through the science of it, charted how we think of our current self versus people we know, love, and then just other people that we know and then went through a series of thinking about their future self. It actually registered lower than everything. That intuitively made sense because in people’s minds, their future self really doesn’t even exist. So how can you care about that?
Fred Barstein: It’s a different person.
Rich Hepp: It’s a different person. So what happens is it’s a direct correlation as to why they won’t invest for the future. It’s part of the inertia it’s all that. It really struck a nerve. So.
Fred Barstein: So, how are you going to use this to help your clients?
Rich Hepp: Well, I think from an education standpoint, for sure is telling them what I’m telling you. Really trying to put plan sponsors and really participants in a position to think about their future more. Then really, we all do it, but after the fact, you can then show the numbers, the differences between not saving for, we have all these examples. Those every five years, every decade you miss, what the difference is. You’ll never catch up to someone who started investing 10 years earlier than you.
Fred Barstein: Right.
Rich Hepp: So I just think tying that together with them understanding that they’re not making a connection with their future self in retirement, I think it’s going to be a little more impactful.
Fred Barstein: So knowing the problem and then there is an app that shows you the way you look in 30 years.
Rich Hepp: That’s right. Yeah. You have all the…
Fred Barstein: [inaudible 00:03:24].
Rich Hepp: There’s some professional apps out there for sure, but there’s definitely the aging apps that are out there that show you what you’re going to look like in 30 years. It does ring true to say, “Whoa.” When you say to a 25-year-old, the age 40, that doesn’t always ring true. But when you tell them it’s only 15 years away, they’re like, “Whoa.” That’s a little more a different way to view it. It’s the same thing. I think they need the visual too, not just the verbal of that.
Fred Barstein: Cool. Well thank you for your first TPSU program.
Rich Hepp: Yes.
Fred Barstein: Hopefully many more.
Rich Hepp: It was great.
Fred Barstein: Thank you for watching 401KTV. Please stay tuned.
