--- title: The Little-Known Reason Optimists Save More Money Than Pessimists description: A study published by the American Psychological Association finds optimism can help people save more — especially when facing hardship. authors: - name: Pete Grieve role: Lead News Reporter url: https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/ bio: Pete Grieve is a personal finance reporter at Money who frequently writes about news and trends related to car buying, auto insurance and gas prices. education: University of Chicago, BA Political Science at_money_since: 2022 articles: 610 covers: - Personal Finance - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes social: - https://twitter.com/pete_grieve - https://linkedin.com/in/pete-grieve-b5aa02138 - https://www.facebook.com/petegrieve4 editors: - name: Julia Glum role: Managing Editor url: https://money.com/author/julia-glum/ bio: Julia Glum joined Money in 2018 and specializes in covering financial trends that affect everyday Americans' wallets. She also writes Dollar Scholar, a weekly newsletter that teaches young adults how to navigate the messy world of money. education: University of Florida at_money_since: 2018 articles: 454 covers: - Personal Finance - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology also_seen_in: - Newsweek - International Business Times - CBS News - Good Morning America - WUSA9 - Pix 11 - The New York Times - Mashable - The Washington Post - CNBC - Politico social: - https://x.com/superjulia - https://www.linkedin.com/in/julia-glum published: '2026-10-28T08:01:42.000Z' section: Personal Finance tags: - News word_count: 441 canonical: https://money.com/optimists-save-more-money-than-pessimists-study/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Stacks of coins and hundred dollar bill forming a smiley face](https://img.money.com/2025/01/News-Savings-Optimism.jpg) Although you might think that people who have anxiety about the future would save more money out of caution, that's actually not the case. Optimists are surprisingly good savers, research shows. Pessimism can lead people to save money in fear of emergencies, but optimism has been found to have a stronger link with saving behavior, according to a January 2025 study published by the American Psychological Association. "We often think of optimism as rose-colored glasses that might lead people to save less for the future," lead author Joe Gladstone, a University of Colorado Boulder researcher, said in a [news release](https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2025/01/optimism-boost-saving). "But our research suggests optimism may actually be an important psychological resource that helps people save, especially when facing economic hardship." The researchers [used data](https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/psp-psp1281147.pdf) from eight surveys taken in the U.S. and Europe that included various measures of optimism. All together, the surveys included over 140,000 participants from the U.S., United Kingdom, Germany and other countries. While the survey methods of the eight polls varied, all of them asked participants about their income and savings, and some inquired about their total assets. The surveys also had participants rate how much they agreed with statements like "overall, I expect more good things to happen to me than bad" and "in uncertain times, I usually expect the best." By definition, optimists are hopeful for positive outcomes, even when it seems like everything is going wrong. This confidence that things will improve may have a link with financial planning for the better days that lie ahead. In fact, the connection between optimism and proactive saving habits was even more pronounced among lower-income individuals. "For someone living paycheck to paycheck, saving can feel futile," Gladstone said. "But an optimistic outlook may provide the motivation to set aside money despite present challenges." Optimism was consistently associated with better savings habits in the analysis, and the difference was significant. The researchers found that the more optimistic a respondent reported feeling, the more savings they tended to have (or, in academic terms, "a one-standard-deviation increase in optimism correlated with a $1,352 increase in savings for households with the median savings balance of $8,000," according to the release). Optimists were also found to have higher investment returns than pessimists and were more likely to have savings at all. This may be because they set more ambitious savings goals and have the persistence needed to achieve them. The takeaway from the research on the connection between optimism and increased savings? The authors said "optimism-building techniques" should be incorporated into financial education and other programs aimed at increasing savings — especially with low-income populations that typically save at lower rates. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/optimists-save-more-money-than-pessimists-study/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Personal Finance", "item": "https://money.com/personal-finance/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Saving Money", "item": "https://money.com/saving-money/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The Little-Known Reason Optimists Save More Money Than Pessimists" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/optimists-save-more-money-than-pessimists-study/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/optimists-save-more-money-than-pessimists-study/", "name": "The Little-Known Reason Optimists Save More Money Than Pessimists", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2026-10-28T08:01:42.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/optimists-save-more-money-than-pessimists-study/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/optimists-save-more-money-than-pessimists-study/#breadcrumb" } }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "The Little-Known Reason Optimists Save More Money Than Pessimists", "articleSection": "Personal Finance", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2025/01/News-Savings-Optimism.jpg", "width": 2880, "height": 1920, "caption": "News-Savings-Optimism" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Pete Grieve", "url": "https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/#author", "description": "Pete Grieve is a personal finance reporter at Money who frequently writes about news and trends related to car buying, auto insurance and gas prices.", "image": "https://img.money.com/2023/02/peter.png?w=350&h=430&crop=1", "email": "peter.grieve@money.com", "jobTitle": "Lead News Reporter", "alumniOf": "University of Chicago, BA Political Science", "sameAs": [ "https://twitter.com/pete_grieve", "https://linkedin.com/in/pete-grieve-b5aa02138", "https://www.facebook.com/petegrieve4" ], "worksFor": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2026-10-28T08:01:42.000Z", "description": "A study published by the American Psychological Association finds optimism can help people save more — especially when facing hardship.", "abstract": "A study published by the American Psychological Association finds optimism can help people save more — especially when facing hardship.", "@id": "https://money.com/optimists-save-more-money-than-pessimists-study/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "editor": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Julia Glum", "url": "https://money.com/author/julia-glum/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/julia-glum/#author", "description": "Julia Glum joined Money in 2018 and specializes in covering financial trends that affect everyday Americans' wallets. 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