While behavioural economists posit that ‘present bias’ influences adults' propensity to save, we know very little about the cultural frameworks and internalised rationalities that people apply in real life contexts when making pension choices. This paper investigates how people anticipate the future when they make decisions about workplace pensions, considering whether they think about later life at all; if so, how they conceptualise it; and how these views shape their saving behaviour. These are important questions in the UK where private pension saving is essential to provide for old age, yet an estimated 12 million people do not invest enough for income adequacy in later life. We investigate this issue through in-depth interviews with 42 full time employees aged between 20 and 50 years, working for three large employers – a privileged group facing relatively few structural barriers to saving.

Later life was considered to be a distinct and uncertain phase in the long-term future, and thinking about it was uncomfortable. Most participants were unable to imagine what retirement might be like for them. People's thoughts about the future were disconnected from their pension saving decisions, even for those who were saving at higher levels. Instead people focussed on what they can afford in the present, prioritising stability and current standard of life over long-term saving; even the people who save do so because they feel they can afford to without jeopardising their standard of living.

We expect that if those in our sample with their relative advantages did not connect their present pension actions to their long term futures, this disconnect may be amplified in less privileged and more precarious groups, who have many more demands on their immediate income and far more uncertain futures. We argue that what has previously been identified as an unconscious ‘present bias’ is instead a conscious and culturally constructed mechanism that embeds everyday structural privileges into long-term savings.

虽然行为经济学家认为“当前偏见”会影响成年人的储蓄倾向，但我们对人们在现实生活中做出养老金选择时所应用的文化框架和内化理性知之甚少。本文调查了人们在做出有关工作场所养老金的决定时如何预测未来，并考虑他们是否考虑过以后的生活；如果是这样，他们如何将其概念化；以及这些观点如何塑造他们的储蓄行为。在英国，这些都是重要的问题，在英国，私人养老金储蓄对于养老至关重要，但估计有 1200 万人没有为晚年的收入充足投资。我们通过对 42 名年龄在 20 到 50 岁之间的全职员工进行深入访谈来调查这个问题，

晚年生活被认为是长期未来的一个独特而不确定的阶段，想想就很不舒服。大多数参与者无法想象退休对他们来说会是什么样子。人们对未来的想法与他们的养老金储蓄决定脱节，即使是那些储蓄水平较高的人。相反，人们关注他们目前能负担得起的东西，优先考虑稳定性和当前的生活水平，而不是长期储蓄；即使是那些储蓄的人也会这样做，因为他们觉得自己可以负担得起，而不会危及他们的生活水平。

我们预计，如果我们样本中具有相对优势的人没有将他们目前的养老金行动与他们的长期未来联系起来，那么这种脱节可能会在特权较少和更不稳定的群体中被放大，他们对直接收入的要求更高，甚至更多。不确定的未来。我们认为，以前被认为是无意识的“当前偏见”是一种有意识的、文化构建的机制，它将日常结构性特权嵌入到长期储蓄中。