This Is Your Brain On Financial Goals

What are your financial goals?  Do you wish to reach financial independence and perhaps retire early from the job you don’t really like anymore?  Let’s go over some real neuroscience that might help you achieve them.

Imagine yourself at age 75.  In America age 75 is about a year short of life expectancy for men and 5 years short for women.  Don’t just imagine, try to actually picture yourself at that age.  What would you look like? 

Try to imagine the experiences that future-you will have had and what you will learn.  Will you be happy at 75?  More related to your financial goals – did you save enough money to lead the life you desire in your 70’s?

Why should you try to do this depressing exercise?  Because scientific studies strongly suggest this type of visualization allows us to anchor our goal directed behaviors.  

I’ll let Stanford neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Huberman explain in this short 2 minute clip from one of his podcasts.

Now if you think that might seem a bit far-fetched or implausible I’d say think again.  The Huberman Lab is one of the top science podcasts in the world and one of my favorites and I know from years of listening that Huberman only discusses the top findings in new science that are published in the top journals.  That doesn’t mean those findings are always the last word, we should remember that science is a process not a thing. 

But I’m not the only one who thinks that visualization study is onto something…

 

You Old Dog

If there’s a legit way to make money doing something, capitalism assures that void will be filled.  Enter the website changemyface.com, who will take a picture of you and digitally age it to approximate what you will look like in the future.  Did they stand up this service as a way to profit off of fun party gags?  No…

Turns out they’re onto the science.  One of their case studies is with the Mexican government and uses the exact example from the study Huberman referenced. 

This is right from their website:

 

So the science Huberman discussed is already being used in the market as a way to help achieve goals.  I personally do not care to have a look at a 75 year old me, and since I’m already financially independent I don’t need to play any visualization games. 

But if you’re struggling to save money for retirement or to reach other financial goals you might consider having yourself digitally aged.  Your future self might be looking back at you with a bit of dismay or possibly disgust.  Don’t let hm or her see your $40,000 SUV….

 

Visualize Failure

Popular literature on achieving ones goals is littered with the advice of visualizing success.  While studies suggest it can work for short term goals such as hitting a home run or executing a perfect ski run, it’s not so great for long term goals. 

Huberman goes on to cite studies showing that goal visualization is great for getting started towards a long term goal, but quickly wanes. 

What does work?  You have to visualize failure.  I’ll let him explain in this short clip.

 

So visualizing failure had the effect of nearly doubling the likelihood that one would achieve their goals. 

Longtime Accidental FIRE readers might remember a post I did a while back called The Power Of Pessimism where I discussed the Stockdale paradox and ideas which are very similar to what Huberman discusses in the video.

 

Your Financial Goals: Find The Goldilocks Zone

So you’ve obtained a picture of yourself as an old person, and you’ve imagined yourself as an old financial failure.  The next step set financial goals that are achievable.

Huberman explains the research about goal setting and the likelihood of achieving goals from a biologically quantitative perspective in this short 2 minute clip.

This is really fascinating research and kind of makes sense.  I can see how super easy goals could turn anyone into an apathetic underachiever.  And impossible goals just make us shut down.  But how do you use this information for your career goals or your goals of financial independence? 

Don’t ask me, I got to FI accidentally. 

Haha, but seriously this is a tough question.  We all want to be worth $10 million someday, but is it wise to set that as an actual goal? 

If you’re a doctor or other high earner then perhaps, but if you’re a school teacher then the studies Huberman cites suggest you probably shouldn’t.  It seems it’s best to find that goldilocks goal in the middle that’s hard enough to trigger energy and motivation but not so hard as to be unrealistic. 

To do that you might need to do some maths, or perhaps look at the bloggers in the FI space and find ones who are in your career field, or who have similar life circumstances.

 

Conclusion

A few months back I wrote a post about how I never dreamed big.  But I did often set smaller goals.  Granted, a good may of those goals involved drinking or doing immature things while I was drunk.  But that part of my life is long gone now and I survived. 

I still set goals, and now that I know the latest neuroscience I’ll examine my goals and behaviors around them.  And you should too.  Don’t be that 75 year old financial failure.