6 in 10 Americans don't have $500 in savings

And 8 years of Dubya regime as well.

 

That's what the Dems want. A peasant populace dependent on the government for food, housing etc.

 

While Republicans want corporate serfs who compete with China. Live in bunkhouses and bathe from buckets, like millions of Chinese workers do.

 

http://money.cnn.com/2016/03/29/news/economy/us-manufacturing-jobs/

By putting him/her out of work.

- - - Updated - - -

http://money.cnn.com/2016/03/29/news/economy/us-manufacturing-jobs/
Jobs left the country. And have been replaced with entry level service jobs.

 

It's not about 'learning how' to budget, it's about wanting to budget. People aren't lacking information (not spending, is not rocket science), they're lacking the will to save.

 

Personal responsibility.

We have friends who routinely spend $250 a week on groceries, whereas we spend $120. They go on at least two family holidays per year, both expensive, and one is always overseas. We go on one expensive holiday every two years, and go camping every few months (free). They run air conditioning 24/7 in summer, we don't even have air conditioning. They run 24/7 electric heating in winter, we burn free firewood. Blah blah blah.

 

The Corporate State preys on Americans anyway it can, colludes without competition if possible. You have to be pretty sharp to avoid being ripped off everyday, and not everybody is sharp. Much less well-read; half of American college graduates never pick up another book. Add five hours a day of TV; the advertising alone will warp any brain. And now we have a game-show host for president, who doesn't read books. That's perfect—just what this country deserves.

 

Credit is built on debt. When you swipe or insert your credit card to make a payment, you are not actually making a payment; rather, you are making a promise that you will pay that balance back at the end of the month. Let's say you rack up $8,000 on your credit card per month, then find out that your roof is leaking and needs to be replaced immediately, which will also cost $8,000. You're likely not going to be able to afford to pay both off that month, so you have to choose, and given that a leaky roof is a major problem, that will take priority. So now you have a new roof but owe $8,000 on a credit card. Unfortunately, you accumulate $8,000 more within the next month and can only afford to pay that off plus the interest for the previous month's statement. Then a couple months later your car breaks down. See what I'm getting at?

Constantly making monthly payments is no way to live. You could be making $100,000+ per year, but if you have a $500+/month car payment, $1,500 mortgage, $8,000 in credit card debt, $50,000 in student loans, and etc (and that's not even including water, electricity, cable, internet, phone, insurance, gas, and the like), you're still going to be living paycheck to paycheck because you have so many monthly payments!

 

I agree to a certain extent, but I do think there are many that learned that spending all that you have is normal and never really learned how to save.

 

1: the obligation is with the credit company and to pay the MINIMUM; that is the OBLIGATION. Without credit cards business travel would be very complicated given the number of holds placed upon cards when you rent cars, check into hotels and more. Again I ask, what is wrong with charging $8,000 in airfare, hotels, meals and more and then paying the balance in full?

2: Be honest, your hypothetical doesn't play because there are no "surprise" roof leaks except after major wind events. Homeowners who are honest know that-

in snow and ice areas that gutters can cause you problems and to ignore that is asking for trouble

roofs need replacement after certain periods of time given the type of roofing and quality used as well as geographic area. You can't use the same shingles that are used in Michigan and expect the same life in Florida. The sun beats the heck out of roofs in FL so thicker shingles of different compounds must be used, if not, replace more often


I get your point of unexpected surprises but a broad brush can't be used for everyone

Who cares if I have a $300,000 mortgage on a home that is valued at over $1 million and the payment is less than 10% of my monthly take home?

Even in a "fire sale" the home would quickly sell for $650,000 and the creditor would be "whole"

Much of the ease on credit you saw were liberal policies to try and generate a behavior among typically urban blacks and gettign them to become homeowners. The issue is that without skin in the game there is no incentive to maintain a home or even make payments. What happened was the rest of America saw these funky loans and started specualting and that as they say is history

The term tossing the baby with the bath water is what Democrats did and it's hurt a lot of responsible folks along the way and has caused the part-time, foodservice worker economy.

 

How many people have $500 to $1,000 in available on their credit cards for emergencies?

Your news articles totally ignores the availability of credit.

 

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this, but those who get disability or government aid are not allowed to save or they will lose all of their aid. I hope this doesn't go into a wellfare bashing war, because most of the people who get disability are truly disabled. Nobody wants to throw crippled people to the wolves. The reality is that these people are cared for and shackled to a certain extent on how they can act on their behalf. It is sad but it makes sense in a way. If you live off of charity, you must make as little footprint as possible on the people forced to take care of you.

 

I know a guy who is so proud of himself because he finally managed to increase his total savings to five cents last week. He's hoping that he will be able to double it to ten cents by the end of 2017.

 

I kind of feel the same as you with a nearly identical situation with some family, and of course there are extremes on both ends. Relative #1 makes an excellent family wage but spends approximately 3-5K more than they make, every year a little deeper in debt and of course complains about money, upgrades vehicles like I upgrade shoes, always a brand new phone, very expensive vacations, etc... Relative #2 makes about half of that but somehow saves about 6-8K a year, very similar to what I do. IF I ever needed to borrow money, I know which one i'm calling, the one that makes crap wages but knows how to save and also knows that i'm good for it, relative #1 would be smart not to ask me, i'd likely turn him down.

I'd also think its safe to assume that a solid percentage of those with $500 total savings probably also has a newer phone than me, drives a nicer car than I do, stay's in better hotels when traveling. My car is worth about $1200, had it for years, phone is 3 generations old but works fine, and I stay at basic hotels, $100 ish a night...

Certainly NOT suggesting that all people with low savings are fiscally irresponsible but I see it far too often, priorities ALL out of wack.

 

Are you married with children?

If not you have no idea! Anyone can live the frugal life as a bachelor. However, saying "no" to your wife and children all the time gets old.

I am as frugal as they come, but I had to reduce my saving goals quite a bit after having family.

 

I think this person is BSing you. No one with a gross income of 1280/mo pays 20% in taxes. Most taxes would be included in his various spending categories.

 

I think a good portion of it in generational. Many parents wanted to make sure their kids had things they never did, and ended up with a generation which doesn't have the discipline to do without things.

 

All choices he made. He could have stayed at home with family rent free, and just pitched in for groceries and utilities. He could have used that rent free time to get better educated and get a higher paying job. So many OTHER ways of doing life, than the presented scenario. I would argue that if he's earning only $8 an hour (absurdly low wages, incidentally. not even legal in most countries), then he has absolutely no business spending money on things like phones, internet, cable, cars, or climate control. He should be living like a freegan ... minus the dumpster diving. Actually, yes, he should probably be dumpster diving.

 

He/she may not be telling you that, but I am. In any rich, western nation with equal access to free education, it's ALWAYS a choice to be poor - given you are of sound mind and body.

 

He gets it back at the tax filing time. Until then he runs the deficit.

 

We're frugals, but it's a joint decision. I will admit that our kids weren't as keen when younger, but as they've become teenagers and young adults they've come to appreciate the benefits of it. They now see that making choices about spending/not spending is empowering and liberating. They have the maturity to recognise that "must spend, must have stuff" is the opposite of empowering, and the opposite of liberating.

 

the rich have all the money, were still as rich a country as ever.... just the rich have a bigger chunk of the pie than is realistic

the right is in power and needs to figure out how to solve this now.....

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