Future Focus Under Friction: Understanding Money-Management Stress Within a Time-Perspective Framework

We tested whether two time-perspective dimensions–Future and Present-Fatalistic–explain financial functioning beyond income and demographics in a preregistered cross-sectional survey in Armenia (N=105; adult online sample; stratified convenience balancing sex, age bands, urban/rural). The constructs and predictions can be generalized to household finance. Outcomes were Financial Preparedness for Emergencies (FPE) and Current Money-Management Stress (CMMS). Preregistered hierarchical regressions with planned mediation tests showed that the time perspective added ~6 percentage points to FPE (ΔR²≈.06) and ~17 to CMMS (ΔR²≈.17). After multiple test adjustments, only the Future dimension remained clearly linked to higher CMMS scores, and Present-Fatalistic added nothing unique. Mediation via temporal orientation and buffering interactions were null. More future-focused participants reported greater day-to-day stress. We interpret Future→stress as higher standards and closer monitoring under everyday frictions and limited slack. The findings distinguish readiness from execution/strain and suggest pairing future self-interventions with friction-reducing tools.