Abstract
Four studies tested the idea that saving money can buffer death anxiety and constitute a more effective buffer than
spending money. Saving can relieve future-related anxiety and provide people with a sense of control over their fate,
thereby rendering death thoughts less threatening. Study 1 found that participants primed with both saving and spending
reported lower death fear than controls. Saving primes, however, were associated with significantly lower death fear than
spending primes. Study 2 demonstrated that mortality primes increase the attractiveness of more frugal behaviors in saveor-
spend dilemmas. Studies 3 and 4 found, in two different cultures (Polish and American), that the activation of death
thoughts prompts people to allocate money to saving as opposed to spending. Overall, these studies provided evidence
that saving protects from existential anxiety, and probably more so than spending.