America vs. Singapore: You Can’t Save Your Way out of Economic Shocks
Hacker News
February 19, 2026
AI-Generated Deep Dive Summary
A new study challenges the widely held belief that procrastination is the primary cause of saving regret. Instead, it reveals that economic shocks—such as unemployment, health crises, or financial losses—are the dominant factor in whether people wish they had saved more. Conducted by Rohwedder, Hurd, and Börsch-Supan, the research surveyed individuals aged 60–74 in both the U.S. and Singapore, two countries with similar cultural emphasis on individual responsibility for retirement but differing institutional frameworks.
The findings show that traditional behavioral economic theories, which focus on self-control issues like procrastination, fail to explain saving regret. The study tested 12 psychometric measures related to procrastination and self-control in both countries. Despite significant effort, the researchers found little to no correlation between these traits and saving regret. In fact, where correlations did exist, they often ran counter to expectations—such as Singaporeans who reported never putting off difficult tasks being more likely to express saving regret than those who sometimes procrastinated.
The study identifies negative financial shocks as the key predictor of saving regret. In the U.S., 69% of respondents reported experiencing at least one such shock, compared to 46% in Singapore. Among Americans who faced these shocks, 61% expressed regret over their savings choices, versus 42% in Singapore. The most common shocks were labor-market related—unemployment spells, earnings shortfalls, and early forced retirement—followed by health-related issues that impacted their ability to work.
This shift in understanding has significant implications for tech and startups. Rather than focusing solely on individual behaviors like procrastination, financial tools and policies should account for broader economic and systemic risks. By addressing the structural factors that lead to saving regret, innovators can design more effective solutions to help individuals manage financial uncertainty. This approach aligns with a growing recognition of the need to balance behavioral insights with systemic analysis in creating impactful financial technologies.
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Originally published on Hacker News on 2/19/2026