u/BusIll4907

In a 2009 study, researchers found while tracing brain activity that when people thought about their future selves, their brains reacted more like how they would think about another person (or a stranger) than like they would when thinking about themselves. The point was that your future self is a whole other person.

I now realize that “pay yourself first” is not referring to your current self and giving yourself fun money. It is referring to paying your future self. The moment you realize that, so many of your decisions change. To truly commit, you have to separate yourself from that money and realize that it is not “yours” to spend. And the only way to “pay” them is to put it in stow away accounts such as a savings or investment account.

I’m just now starting to put the pieces of the puzzle together to see that you could save a lifetime’s worth of money and put it away into a tax advantaged account, but if you’re going to take a tax advantage, they’re not going to let you access those funds and stop working until you’re over 60… ETA: keyword: easily.

Same thing with health insurance. If you decide you don’t want to be someone else’s worker bee, you’re going to be hit with incredible healthcare costs until 65.

I find it fascinating that your health and your wealth is roped up until you’ve gotten to old age— and if you want to buck the system, you’re going to have to pay. Am I thinking about this wrong?