CNN Money Nearly 3 in 5 Americans are making this huge financial mistake
I am always horrified by stories like this... Then we wonder why there are so many poor people in America.
I am always horrified by stories like this... Then we wonder why there are so many poor people in America.
"Americans on a whole just aren't great savers, to the point where almost 70% of us don't even have $1,000 in the bank. Furthermore, almost half of Americans claim that to cover a $400 emergency, they'd need to borrow the money or sell something quickly to round up the cash.
And though some of us can legitimately point to low earnings as a reason for not saving, for many of us, it's a matter of poor money management -- namely, failing to create and follow a budget.
According to a recent study by U.S. Bank, only 41% of Americans use a budget even though it's one of the most effective ways to keep track of our finances. This data is only a slight improvement over a 2013 Gallup poll, which showed that just 32% of U.S. households maintain budgets. "
4 comments:
I don't have a lot of money in the bank. Does that mean I am a poor saver? Putting money in savings accounts doesn't make sense for me, and for many others. So I have a fallacy of composition issue. Does a wrong choice individually become a right choice collectively. If it doesn't make sense for people to put money in banks, is it a bad thing for the bank savings rate to be low?
--Hiram
Whether you use banks or not is immaterial...
The question is if you have saved / accumulated assets of some form that can be sold in your later years to cover your costs of living?
One of my friends collects gold coins when the price of gold is down.
Or did you live like an irresponsible squirrel who spent the Summer playing in the sunshine and has no nuts to eat in the Winter?
And if you lived like the above mentioned squirrel... Do you think some "hand of God" should steal from the hard working squirrels so that you do not go hungry?
Or should you suffer the natural consequences of your choices?
Having a budget doesn't much matter either, if you are just naturally "tight with a dollar" and don't buy what you don't need or can't afford after you "put something away for your old age. Folks used to have something taken out of their checks every week to buy US savings bonds, which they held until retirment. Nowadays it's that company IRA or some such, and you live on what's left over. Those who don't contribute at all are the problem.
The question is how do people learn that simple habit if they were not raised that way?
I really wanted a new crew cab pickup truck to replace my 15 year old Suburban, and I can afford it... But that $45,000 can stay where it is earning money rather than going into "rolling stock" that depreciates and raises my yearly taxes...
In our consumer driven society the temptations are endless.
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