Setting SMART long-term goals provides much-needed impetus for setting smaller goals towards retirement saving that help one act today towards savings.

Positive Framing Frame retirement savings decisions in ways that highlight the benefits of saving. For example, focus on how much you will accumulate over time or what kind of financial freedom you'll have in retirement, rather than the sacrifices you may have to make today.

Understand the big picture. Do not consider retirement savings as something to be set apart from other financial goals. Integrate your retirement plan into your overall financial plan.

The better-diversified portfolio will ease the psychological blow of market moves. By investing in the widest possible spread of different asset classes (stocks, bonds, real estate, and others), individuals can further minimize the chance of sustaining huge losses in any individual area.

Behavioral finance draws on psychology, economics, and finance to understand how human beings make financial decisions. Unlike traditional finance that assumes people are rational agents always maximizing utility,

comparative advantage is an important concept in economics that explains why countries or individuals can benefit from trade even when one party is less efficient in producing both goods.