“The Future is Never Guaranteed!” Yes. And?

There’s a response (or variation thereof) that comes up in almost every section of my financial literacy class for educators. At some point (and often several points) in class discussions, participants will respond with some form of, “The Future is Never Guaranteed!” (And, yes, the exclamation point is generally included.) It always comes up in the context of the balance between spending now (spending on present you) and spending in the future (spending on future you).

Now, to be perfectly clear, this is an important discussion. We spend a lot of time in the class discussing the importance of balance; balancing the need to live the life you want to live today and the need to be able to live the life you want to lead in the future. Identifying your values and goals around this is a critical part of your financial planning. My concern, however, is that almost every time this phrase is brought up it’s in the context of justifying not planning and saving for the future. “I might die tomorrow, so I don’t want to give up/sacrifice/not do something today.”

While this is undoubtedly true (that you might die tomorrow), and we do need to live the life we want to live today to the best of our ability, I try to encourage the participants to think about the phrase “The Future is Not Guaranteed” (without the exclamation point) in a slightly different way. Instead of thinking of it in terms of “I might die tomorrow”, instead think of it in terms of “[Your] future is likely to be a very, very long period of time and there are no guarantees that you will be able to live life like you want to during that time.” (Admittedly, it doesn’t flow off the tongue in quite the same way.)

The “present”, however you personally define that, is a fairly limited amount of time, whereas the “future” is variable and unknowable, but for most people is a much, much longer period of time. And if you don’t plan for that future, save and invest for that future (again, in balance with living your life today), you may end up regretting it. After all, ten (twenty, thirty) years from now you will then have a “present” that you will want to be living your best life in, too.

I struggle with exactly how to discuss this in the course because it’s easy to come off the wrong way (judgmental, scolding, etc.). Not planning for the future is bad, but so is always denying yourself now for some possible future you. Finding that balance is key, and nuanced and, like of all of personal finance, personal. But because I almost always see this in the context of justifying not planning and saving for the future, I try to come up with ways to further the discussion instead of just ignoring it altogether (or shutting it down with a poor comment).

One way is to respond with something along the lines of, “Yes. And?” It’s a well-known technique, but that doesn’t make it a bad one. Instead of letting folks use “The Future is Never Guaranteed!” as a way to always justify instant gratification over delayed gratification, it at least opens the door to continue the discussion around a complex, nuanced, and ultimately personal decision. And it hopefully get folks to also consider my alternative interpretation of the phrase.

A second way is specific to the participants in my class, who are all K-12 educators. I ask them to think about assigning their students to complete some task that the educator thinks is worthwhile for the students (whether it’s in class, for homework, a long-term project; it doesn’t matter). And then I ask them to imagine their student responding, “Naw, I’d rather do something else. The Future is Never Guaranteed!” How would they feel? How would they respond? And then I ask them to reflect on their (likely) visceral response to their student in the context of their own use of the same justification. Keeping in mind that the student may have a valid point, but maybe the student needs to spend a little bit more time thinking it through to justify it either way.

None of this is meant to imply that these are easy decisions for people to make, or that there is always one right answer for any given situation. But I would encourage anyone who uses a phrase like “The Future is Never Guaranteed!” as your answer to something, as your justification for stopping any further discussion (especially when it relates to finances), to perhaps step back and realize that instead of saying something profound, you are simply opting out of doing the hard thinking and the hard work necessary to live your best life.