In a recent WSJ piece, Jason Zweig discusses two things to do when the stock market gets crazy. The article and Zweig’s advice are worth your time (and the tips should sound familiar).

What’s more, Zweig highlights some long view thoughts from recent podcast guest, Hal Hershfield.

“Our distant future selves feel like different people from who we are now,” says Hal Hershfield, a behavioral scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, who studies how time affects people’s decisions. “It can become especially difficult to keep those distant selves in mind when there’s so many emotions in the present—in the form of temptation or fear.”

If you haven’t already, listen here to the podcast episode with Hal Hershfield.

“My research asks, ‘How can we help move people from who they are now to who they’ll be in the future in a way that maximizes well-being?”  Hal Hershfield

I may have found my person. By that, I mean someone who does the research connected to the mission of my podcast. He’s just as obsessed as I am with helping people make better long-term decisions.

Professor Hal Hershfield’s work concentrates on the psychology of long-term decision making and how time affects people’s lives — perfect, given the purpose of my podcast and that Americans are living longer and saving less.

One of Hershfield’s most well-known discoveries suggests that when people are confronted with their “future selves,” they experience an emotional sense of connection that can influence long-term financial and ethical decision-making. 

Listen to our conversation here.

“What’s clear… is that competing ways of spending—where one partner spends freely and the other doesn’t spend freely enough—can lead to serious conflict.” Hal Hershfield

At HIG, a considerable part of our job is helping couples discuss their finances openly and create their family’s plan together. Sounds simple – but we have seen the benefits firsthand. Our clients say having a third party help navigate this tricky topic can have a massive impact on their self-reported relationship satisfaction, as well as the likelihood of achieving their financial goals.

If you’re curious how you can level up your financial harmony at home, check out this piece by Hal Hershfield, courtesy of our friends at Avantis (an evidence-based mutual fund and ETF investment firm). Hal is a Professor of Marketing and Behavioral Decision Making at UCLA’s Anderson School.

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