A new study suggests that people who save for retirement are more likely to pay closer attention to their health. Lamar Pierce, an associate professor at Washington University, and Timothy Gubler, a doctoral candidate, conducted the study which attributes the findings to a concept called time discounting.
Time discounting refers to a person’s tendency to value smaller immediate rewards over future desired results. People who prefer large future rewards to small immediate rewards are more likely to save for retirement and ultimately improve their health using tools such as blood and cholesterol tests.
“Employees who saved for the future by contributing to a 401(k) showed improvements in their abnormal blood-test results and health behaviors approximately 27% more often than non-contributors did,” Pierce and Gubler stated in the study.
The retirement contribution patterns and future health improvements studied were highly correlated, but not causal. This means that saving money for retirement will not miraculously improve your health, but that people who are likely to save money are also likely to take good care of their health.
Essentially, it is important to remind investors that they should be proactive in regards to both their future financial stability and their health.