The Temporal You

Written by: Katherine Starrett

The money you earn every month goes in lots of different directions. It pays for rent, gas, food, utilities, entertainment, travel . . . the list goes on. These things that I’ve just listed are, however, very current. You’re paying for rent on an apartment or house you’re currently living in. You’re paying for food you’re probably going to consume within the next few days or weeks. You’re paying for a movie you’re going to see today. . . .

But you’re probably also sending money into the past. You’re paying off credit card debt or education loans, maybe even a mortgage. These are examples of money that your past self borrowed some time ago, thus promising that your future self (now your current self) would pay it back to the lender. Most people have experience with effectively sending money to their past selves now so that they could afford things that they couldn’t without it. However, not enough people focus as much on their future selves.

If your current self has children and you want those children to go to college without having to take out massive loans that will force them to send money into their pasts for years after they start working, you may want to create a college fund for your children. Saving now will help both your future self and your children by lessening the financial burden when the time comes for them to go to college. The future you will thank the current you for your consideration.

Additionally, at some point you will probably want to retire. And if you don’t want your future self living with your children because the only support you have in old age is social security, then it would be wise for your current self to start sending money into the future for your retirement.

If a disaster in the form of a car breakdown, serious illness or job loss were to befall you, you would likely want a decent cushion of savings that would allow you to handle those setbacks without having to immediately go into debt. So do future you a favor and send some of that monthly salary into a savings account that doesn’t fall below a certain level except in cases of emergency.

My point here is to think not only about your current and past selves but also your future self as you consider how to divide that monthly paycheck. It can be hard, because the repercussions of not sending money into your future are not as salient as the consequences of not paying for your current or past needs (eviction, starvation, default . . .) but think about the fact that the average social security payout per year in 2011 was about $14,000. Do you want to be living on $14,000 a year in your retirement?

You may think that as soon as you’re out of debt, you will start saving. But unless you’re actually on the verge of default, don’t put it off. Pay off your loans on time but reserve some money each month for the future. Nothing can substitute for the time factor in saving and investing. Time more than anything else will help your money to grow into something that will make the future you comfortable. Don’t waste it.

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