Harvard University research proves that it's not because you're a spendthrift or bad at math.
When I earned 3 million yen a year, I thought I'd have plenty of room if I reached 5 million yen.
When I reached 5 million yen, I thought, "I could save if I had 8 million yen."
Once I exceeded 8 million yen, taxes, rent, dining out, beauty, education costs, and business investments all increased.
Before I knew it, even though my income had multiplied, the amount left in my bank account was almost the same as before.
This is not uncommon.
It's not because you're a spendthrift or bad at math. "The biggest characteristic is treating your future self like a stranger and spending money on your current self first."
This isn't a personality flaw; it's a tendency of the human brain. Research from Harvard and Stanford specifically demonstrates this mechanism.
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1. Why "100,000 Yen Today" is So Strong
Harvard economist David Laibson published a representative study on "Present Bias" in The Quarterly Journal of Economics in 1997.
When asked these questions, people's choices change:
・"120,000 yen in a year" vs. "100,000 yen today" → People tend to choose 100,000 yen today.
・"120,000 yen in 11 years" vs. "100,000 yen in 10 years" → More people can wait a year to choose 120,000 yen.
In both cases, the condition is exactly the same: "wait one year to get 20,000 yen more." Yet, the moment the choice involves "today," the immediate appeal suddenly becomes overwhelming.
Laibson's research shows that these time-inconsistent preferences require mechanisms to bind one's future actions, and that consumption tends to follow income movements closely.
We sincerely think, "I'll save starting next month" or "I'll save once sales increase." We aren't lying. But when that month actually comes, the "current self" makes a different decision.
You want a reward for your hard work. You want to live in a better house. You want to upgrade your work tools. "Every single one has a plausible reason." That's why it's so troublesome.
▶️ Things You Can Do Starting Today
・Recall one thing you recently thought you'd "save starting next month."
・Check if you were actually able to do it.
・Make "first" rather than "if there's any left" your motto.
Even if the conditions are the same, the appeal is stronger only for today.
2. The Future Self is Almost a Stranger
Why is it so hard to save for the future?
A research team including Jeremy Bailenson of Stanford University published an experiment in the Journal of Marketing Research in 2011.
They showed participants CG images of their aged selves.
The group that could concretely imagine their future selves was more likely to choose money received in the future over immediate cash compared to the group that only saw their current selves.
The numbers make it clear:
・Those who saw images of their aged selves chose to allocate "about 33% more" to their retirement accounts.
・In experiments where they met their future selves in virtual reality, they tried to put "about twice the amount" into long-term savings accounts.
The research indicates that if people don't feel a connection to their future selves, saving money for the future feels like "giving money to a stranger" rather than an "investment in oneself."
You can imagine the color, shape, and occasions to carry a 300,000 yen bag that your current self wants. But the 300,000 yen your self 10 years from now will need is blurry. The human brain feels things it can vividly imagine strongly and pushes aside things that are blurry.
The problem isn't annual income. The problem is "not having a rule for how to allocate incoming money between your current self and your future self."
▶️ Things You Can Do Starting Today
・Write one line about where, with whom, and how your self 10 years from now is living.
・Roughly calculate the amount of money needed for that.
・Rename savings from "money I can't use" to "money sent to my future self."
Your future self is family, not a stranger.
3. When Income Increases, "Normal" Rises, Not Just "Luxury"
People who don't have money left even as their income rises don't even feel like they are being extravagant.
Their standard of living rises gradually and quickly becomes "normal."
What was initially a special taxi ride becomes a routine commute. A high-end restaurant once a month becomes a weekly dinner out. After a few experiences, the excitement fades and it turns into "this much is necessary."
The scary part is that "fixed costs remain even though happiness doesn't increase at the same rate."
A person who could live on 300,000 yen a month when earning 5 million yen a year becomes anxious if they don't have 1 million yen a month when earning 15 million yen. While they are wealthy on paper, because the life they must protect has grown larger, they have less psychological freedom than before.
Having a high annual income and having little financial anxiety are two different things.
▶️ Things You Can Do Starting Today
・Find one expense that your self from a year ago would have considered a "luxury."
・Check if that has now become "normal."
・Match your fixed costs to your minimum income line, not this month's income.
The more your "normal" rises, the more your freedom decreases.
4. The Feeling of "Not Having Money" Robs You of Judgment
Research by Sendhil Mullainathan of Harvard and Eldar Shafir of Princeton shows another important mechanism.
It's the discovery that a sense of scarcity squeezes a person's "cognitive bandwidth."
In experiments, the test scores of low-income individuals who were made aware of financial worries dropped by "about 14 points." This is a larger drop in judgment than that of someone who hasn't slept for 24 hours. On the other hand, this drop was not seen in wealthy individuals.
When thoughts of payments, deadlines, and insufficient money occupy the mind, the cognitive resources available for work, long-term planning, and self-control decrease.
The important point here is that "even if your objective annual income is high, if your fixed costs and payments are large, you enter a subjective state of scarcity."
Rent, loans, labor costs, subscriptions, education fees. Even if the amount coming in every month is large, if the destination for all of it is already decided, your head will be full of "not enough." Then, you think only about immediate sales rather than long-term reviews, spend money again to heal fatigue, and become easily attracted to stories of "maybe I can turn it all around in one shot."
You make mistakes in judgment because you don't have enough money. Because you make mistakes in judgment, you have even less. This cycle also happens to people who increase their spending and responsibilities at the same speed as the amount they earn.
(Hardship when the income necessary for living itself is insufficient is a different issue from the "case where the increased amount is absorbed" handled in this article. The environment of scarcity itself makes judgment difficult; it is not a weakness of the individual's will.)
▶️ Things You Can Do Starting Today
・Recall one moment when your head was "full of thoughts about payments."
・Reflect on whether you were making big decisions in that state.
・Reduce fixed costs and increase the "free capacity" in your head.
Scarcity robs you of cognitive power, not will.
5. The Busier You Are, the More "Want" Looks Like "Need"
There is an experiment published in 1999 in the Journal of Consumer Research by Baba Shiv and Alexander Fedorikhin of the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
After having participants memorize either a 2-digit or 7-digit number, they were asked to choose between chocolate cake and fruit salad.
The results:
・When the number to memorize was "2 digits" (light load), 41% chose the cake.
・When the number to memorize was "7 digits" (heavy load), 63% chose the cake.
When their heads were full of a task completely unrelated to shopping—memorizing numbers—people were more likely to choose the option with stronger emotional appeal. "When they had the mental capacity to think, their judgment worked better."
This applies directly to shopping as well.
Busy. Tired. Pressure for sales. Notifications keep ringing. In that state, when told "only now" or "only 1 person left," emotion decides before calculating the necessity.
Especially those who are earning can afford to buy it. Even for a decision involving hundreds of thousands of yen, they can explain it as an "investment in myself" or "buying time." If you recognize waste as waste, it's still easy to stop. But once you start calling everything an "investment," verification disappears.
If it's a true investment, you should be able to explain what the expenditure is for and by when which numbers should change in what way for it to be a success. Things that cannot be explained may not be investments, but rather buying expectations or excitement.
▶️ Things You Can Do Starting Today
・Try to explain one expenditure you recently called an "investment" using numbers.
・If you can't explain it, defer the judgment for 24 to 72 hours.
・On days when you are tired, push high-cost decisions to the next day.
If you call it an "investment," you can justify anything.
5 Patterns Common to "People Whose Money Vanishes Even as Income Rises"
① Thinking in the order of "saving if there's any left."
② Leaving the image of their future self blurry.
③ Not noticing that their standard of living has risen.
④ Making big decisions while their head is full of thoughts about payments.
⑤ Calling all expenditures "investments" and not verifying them.
Self-Check 10 for "People Who Have Money Left"
□ Organizing household finances in the order of "saving first."
□ Deciding the allocation of the increase before income increases.
□ Being able to concretely put into words their life 10 years from now.
□ Perceiving savings as "remittances to my future self."
□ Being aware that expenditures that were luxuries a year ago are still luxuries.
□ Matching fixed costs to the minimum line, not the highest month.
□ Not making big decisions when their head is full.
□ Being able to explain expenditures called "investments" with numbers.
□ Setting aside time to defer high-cost decisions.
□ Thinking of high annual income and low financial anxiety separately.
If you have 7 or more, you already have a mechanism for money to remain. Even if it's 3 or fewer, it's not a problem. Because "what's lacking is not will, but the order."
Summary: What the Four Studies Showed
Benefits close to today feel stronger than they actually are
→ Laibson (Harvard, 1997) Present Bias
Making the future self concrete increases savings by about 33%
→ Bailenson et al. (Stanford, 2011)
A sense of financial scarcity robs about 14 points of judgment
→ Mullainathan & Shafir (Harvard)
When the head is full, emotional choices increase to 63%
→ Shiv & Fedorikhin (Stanford, 1999)
Things you can do starting tomorrow
・When salary or sales come in, separate the savings portion before moving it to the living account.
・Try writing one line about your life 10 years from now.
Things to do within a month
・Decide the allocation rules for when income increases in advance.
・Re-adjust fixed costs to the minimum line, not the highest month.
Things to do in the long term
・Ensure that expenditures called "investments" can always be explained with numbers.
・Create a habit of treating your current self and your future self with the same weight.
Finally, I'll write the thing I want to convey most.
Annual income is "earning power," and the balance is "choosing power."
In a life based on the premise of using all the money that comes in, you can't take time off work. You can't turn down unpleasant requests. You'll keep chasing immediate money because you're afraid of sales dropping.
What creates true freedom is not just the size of your income, but how much "money you don't have to use right now" you have.
People who have money left are not without desire, nor are they strong-willed. They just "treat their current self and their future self as equally important family members."
The next time money comes in, try asking this before using it:
"How much of this money will the future me receive?"
Finally
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The research introduced in this article shows group trends and does not guarantee individual results. Research on financial scarcity is not intended to deny the will or ability of individuals in hardship, but to show that the environment itself affects judgment. If the income necessary for living is insufficient, it is outside the scope of this article; please consult public consultation desks or experts. There are various theories regarding the interpretation of research.
