7 secrets to a richer retirement #1 Get a good picture of the future you

You must imagine that when you're retired, you will be fine as you are now - perhaps with a new fondness for early-bird specials and shows welfare PBS. But studies show that the present-day you do not really identify with that person a great future.

In fact, "the mind creates neural patterns similar to those created when you think about a stranger," says Northwestern University researcher Ersner-Hershfield Hal. This disconnect means that you're reluctant to trade rewards overnight rewards - the greatest obstacle to saving for retirement.

Behavioral scientists wondered: could create a better image of his old self help you better focus on their long-term goals? Researchers from Stanford University, which recently tested the question.

They put two groups of university students in virtual reality helmet and interact with them had real size versions of themselves. (Each student shares a bedroom with your avatar, which reflects a person's movements.)

A group of students found themselves at their current age, the other old saw transformed to appear 70 years old. Then the researchers asked the students how to save for retirement. Those in the latter group, said it would save twice as much on average as the others.

Experts are now building online tools to help you make such views. Example: Ersner-Hershfield and his colleagues are testing software that changes your photo as you move a slider to select different levels of savings.

If you choose a low savings rate, your current photo will be happy (I can spend more now), but the oldest will look sad (my nest egg is shrinking!). So far they have found that people who see older versions, more sad if you choose to save 6.75% of salary, on average, versus 5.2%.

Now put these findings into action:

Write it down
While you wait for this slider to a hit on the internet, making a low-tech exercise. Imagine the future of retirement you want - house by the lake? annual trips to Italy? sleep without worries? - In as much detail as possible. Then write down how you feel about that future. "Not only think, but the act of writing that helps you focus your thoughts and act," said Alessandro Previtero Ivey School of the University of Western Ontario.

Think Grandpa or Nana
"The grandfather of her sex with whom you most closely identified with a proxy can be great for your own future," says Ersner-Hershfield. Call it the mind can lead people to budget better and save more, researchers at Northwestern found.