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Future Focus is Surprisingly Linked with Prioritizing Work–Life Balance over Long-Term Savings

  • Eyal Lahav ORCID logo , Guy Barokas ORCID logo EMAIL logo and Tal Shavit ORCID logo
Published/Copyright: August 12, 2024

Abstract

The classic economic prediction is that long-term savings become more important as individuals become more future oriented. However, we expect future-oriented individuals to be more concerned with the long-term effects of work-life imbalance, leading us to hypothesize a positive correlation between future orientation and a choice of present work-life balance over work related long-term savings. In an online survey with open-university students, we confirmed our hypothesis. Important policy implications are discussed. The findings highlight a potential shift in priorities post-COVID-19, with significant implications for policies aimed at enhancing retirement savings. They suggest that promoting WLB can lead to a decrease in long-term savings, indicating a need for balanced policy measures that consider both well-being and future financial security.

JEL Classification: D91; J2

Corresponding author: Guy Barokas, The Interdisciplinary Decision Research Center, Rupin Academic Center, Emek Hefer, Israel, E-mail: 

Funding source: the Open University research authority

Award Identifier / Grant number: 512073

  1. Research funding: This work was supported by the Open University research authority (512073).

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Supplementary Material

This article contains supplementary material (https://doi.org/10.1515/bejeap-2024-0117).


Received: 2024-03-27
Accepted: 2024-07-30
Published Online: 2024-08-12

© 2024 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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