Why can some people patiently save for the future, while others opt for fewer dollars now? A new study reaches some surprising conclusions. Saving takes patience — forgoing instant rewards for larger, delayed rewards. Yet ‘patient savers’ don’t slowly weigh options and aren’t necessarily better at resisting temptation. Instead, choosing between less money now or more later, savers focus on the dollar amounts, quickly ruling out other factors — as their eye movements reveal.