Speak Out!
Why Not Save?
Sun, 09/14/2008 - 20:36 | Economy
In one of her columns, Michelle Singletary, financial columnist for The Washington Post, addresses the lack of motivation for Americans to save money:
A new analysis of the habits and attitudes about saving in America found that most people know they're not saving as much as they should. But they aren't concerned enough to do a darn thing about it, according to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center's Social & Demographic Trends project.What will it take to make Americans, particularly people of color, save more?
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Comments
The Real Reason Americans Don't Save
Americans simply cannot afford to save at this time. The average American is paying the bulk of his income towards basic living expenses, especially if he or she owns a house. I personally come from a family of savers and I would love to put away $500 a month, but this is just not possible for me. My dad was able to save double that amount because his house note was only $235 a month. My home is smaller with half the land and I pay $1,300 a month. Salaries have not kept pace with the cost of living for Middle Class families. Barack Obama's $60 a month stimulus will only buy me a pizza or week's worth of gas. I rarely buy clothes or extras - I do not even have cable or the latest TVs. My money mainly goes towards basic living expenses. No one is really willing to bail out middle class Americans. This may be the first generation that does not do as well as the previous generation.
You can try all you can to
You can try all you can to better yourself by saving what you can, by cutting back, not traveling and not buying things that you would have and you still get kicked in the but by corporate America. Did you notice that American Express has taken the lead in reducing their customer credit limit that puts them at the top of the credit limit so that they can charge their customers a higher because in doing that it decreases your credit scores and everyone gets to charge you more. The banks expect you to keep within approx. 25% of you credit limit and order to keep good credit reporting from that bank. These are things that they do not tell us. The American people cannot get ahead until we get rid of all these fat cats that leaves their business bankrupted while we to pay to bail the company out and they still get to collect the money and pass go and do not go to jail. Go figure that!!! If anyone one of us stole from corporate america, we all would be in jail. Figure this one out by starting with American Express.
Don't give your power away!
Don't give your power away! We all have the power to change our lives. We all have the ability to make good choices or bad choices and live with the consequences.
No matter our education or lack of education, no matter our family situation, once we become adults, we control our destiny. Have a moral compass and live by it.
All of these comments are
All of these comments are correct, we are making making a little money with lots of bills but what I did not see anyone commenting was building wealth together. The Mexicans, Chinese, Jews, and other ethnic groups live in one house for a few years, splitting the bills, saving money for their future endeavors, which usually consist of them starting a business all of them can work at. Think about it. We used to do it when we had to do it. Its not a permanent situation, it's just a few years of sacrifice. Do we have it in us to sacrifice? They know the value of this weak dollar because they come from places where their money is worth less than ours. This is the land of opportunity and we can never seize that opportunity because we spend all of our money day to day, living pay check to pay check. We have been conditioned to do this and accept it as the norm. This might seem radical but if we start doing it, then it will be considered the norm; our kids would then have it no other way.
Higher wages. I'm a single
Higher wages. I'm a single mom of only 1 child; I work 2 jobs, working 7 days a week and still have a hard time trying to make ends meet, never mind trying to save money.
My daily living expenses (such as gas, food, utilites) causes me not to save any money.
I agree with the comments of
I agree with the comments of everyone here. I am an African American mother of 5 and I simply cannot afford to save. The older I get and the more I struggle to make ends meet (most times not successfully) I do not see how I cannot afford not to save. The future is where we need to put our thoughts. We need to save now while the "sun" is still shining because I believe based on the economic signs of failure that we see daily it is going to be night soon and those of us that are living paycheck to paycheck will not be able to survive. For African Americans the key to economic success is Education. I am trying to learn basics at my late age and it is very difficult for me because it is hard to change old habits. These old habits have been passed down from past generations. There is a spirit of poverty that has the minds and souls of African Americans. It affects they way we think and behave and it keeps us operating foolishly with finances. Education is the beginning of shifting our people out of this cycle of abuse.
As a former Mortgage loan
As a former Mortgage loan officer I’ve seen far too many people up to their eyeballs in massive debt and no savings. I always advised my customers on what I would do. I would always tell first time home owners “If you have to finance your home more than 15 years, then you cannot afford it, even if I get you approved” or as my granny would say “Just because you can doesn’t mean you should!”
The American mentality is HERE AND NOW! I always heard the reply, "Why should I buy the $150,000 home and finance it for 15 years, when you can approve me for a $350,000 home for 30 years." Simple answer: to build equity faster, since most people didn’t have 10 - 20% as a down payment. The same thing applies for automobiles, credit cards, clothes, vacations, etc.
In my opinion, Americans just need to simply scale back. Most people waste their savings on stuff that is here today and gone tomorrow. I don’t feel that increasing wages is the answer, because the more we make the more we spend and consume. Every one can take some small steps to decrease their cost of living.
Higher wages. Education,
Higher wages.
Education, education........................
We have to do a better job of educating our people on economics. It must start in the home and on into school as early as 2nd or 3rd grade.
Cathy
Can you MAKE anyone save
Can you MAKE anyone save more?
People who live pay check to pay check may try to save, but just cannot afford to save. The answer you're looking for "What will it take to make Americans save more?" Increase wages or decrease the cost of living.