Katy Milkman

The class of problem that you just described is incredibly common, which is there's a thing that's important in the long run for me to do, right?

Like, I need to figure out my retirement savings situation in the long run.

But right now, I'd rather be binge-watching Netflix.

Yeah, right now I don't have to figure it out.

Eating Doritos or whatever.

Yeah, like there's something else right now that's much more enticing to be doing with my time.

And so I'll just put it off.

So the procrastination problem that you just described, that's massively common for everything from your finances to figuring out, you know, that online degree you've been meaning to get or the health routine you've been meaning to set up or the colonoscopy you've been meaning to arrange, right?

Like it's everywhere.

Not just easy.

We are designed, our operating system as humans is built to procrastinate on things that are not instantly gratifying.

You know, we're wired to eat the Oreo now and to forget about retirement savings.

That's right.

It doesn't mean there's something wrong with you specifically.

It's something that's wrong with the way that we were all designed.

But it could become a problem for you specifically.

And so you've got to outsmart your operating system and figure out a workaround that's going to get you where you want to be.

Yeah, I think this is a separate issue, which is that people don't understand compound interest very well.

And so they do not appreciate how hard it is to catch up.

Even if you are saving at a higher rate later, starting early gives you this massive benefit because of compounding.