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

Any disciplined person in this country can retire a millionaire by saving $50 per week, if they start when they're young.

 

that is about 200 a month
2600 a year
260,000 in 100 years

and that is if the family has 2600 extra dollars laying around a year

 

Are you sure about that? On my Earth it would take a person 384.6 years to save one (1) million dollars at the rate of $50 a week.

 

So why don't you work 100 or 120? Just think how productive you could be??? This is an area where I tend to agree with the left and the EU. We DO work FAR too many hours. It would be fine if life were eternal but its not. It's very short and our prime years are even shorter. What a sad thing to have spent a larger % of your life as a cog in the machine than actually living.

 

Ever hear of compound interest?

 

At just 6.75% annual growth, $50/wk grows to $1,036,417.12 in 50 years. If you start when you're 16 and are disciplined, you can retire at 65 a millionaire mowing one lawn per week on Saturday. I bet he could write "Funding my retirement, please help." on a piece of cardboard and spend one day per week on the off-ramp and make $50. This country is full of opportunity for the sufficiently motivated.

 

if you have no health issues, always have more money then you need to live, ect.... why min wage needs to go up

and banks need to give 6.75% for savings accts

.

 

Plus take away 1.5% of that because of high funds expense ratios, making the bankers rich.

But, don't hit the ideologues with facts, it could destroy their "what if" tooth fairy world.

 

If that money is invested wisely after the first thousand or so, it could happen.

And if a family doesn't have a spare 2600 a year, they shouldn't be a family. By that I mean, if you don't have that much in excess in a given 12 months, you have no business having children. What if something happens to one of them and you need $10,000 for medical expenses?

 

It's not what if, it's what is. Look, I'm a socialist, and would like to believe that all the poor folk are there through no fault of their own. That would be a tooth fairy world. But I know it ain't so. In our rich nations, with welfare safety nets etc, there is simply no excuse for anyone with a sound mind and body. It's CHOICE.

 

Who has ever claimed that there are no poor folk who are there through their own fault? I sure haven't. I just dispute that 60-70% of Americans are such bad decision makers.

 

Americans spend. It they make more, they spend more. It is our culture. The Chinese are much better with their money. Even though they make less, they save more.

This is not a Rep vs Dem argument; it is the result of not teaching people financial responsibility. (Its not like our government is setting a good example)

If you have kids, teach them to save and invest. There is a board game called "Cash Flow for Kids" I highly recommend it.

From the time my kids were old enough to understand money, I taught them to save.

 

One argument against savings accounts is that you earn so little money back with them. The savings account calculators feature charms like the default rate set at 4% but in reality you're lucky to find 1% interest and at most banks it goes down by a lot, some at a fraction of a percent.

 

Only a very small fraction of that 70% would be genuinely unable to ever save money. And I don't count things like addiction as genuine disability/health restrictions. One of the most horrifying aspects of life in a rich land, is just how many people choose to be poor. Not for altruistic reasons (environmental, philosophical, in order to use less and give more, etc), but purely due to laziness and 'need it now' thinking.

 

I salute you. You're investing in your personal infrastructure instead of wasting money on needless expenditures. And yet you are able to save, albeit a small amount, but save. People like you are what makes this country great.

Regards,

Jason Bourne

 

Absolutely right, about all of it. The Chinese laugh at our apathy and our lack of regard for financial security.

Meantime, I don't think westerners lack knowledge. We all know how to save - what we lack is the will to do so. We simply don't want to save. This is a symptom PURELY of poor emotional intelligence. We're like little kids. No maturity whatsoever. That's what the Chinese have ... emotional IQ.

 

Why doesn't he adjust his withholdings on his W4 then?

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They don't have mymoney how did they get your money?

 

Never heard of the power of compound interest and earnings?

 

Do you guys invest at all? Yourbinvestmengs earn money and that money is reinvested aand that money earns money and on and on and on. Do that for 45 years and you'll have a pile of cash.

 

Then work fewer hours be less productive but of course receive less compensation. Personally I am not a cog in a machine. I'm in commissioned sales and pretty much work as I choose to work.

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Amazing how people so do not take risk or invest or know anything about complain that those who do make money at it and now they want some of it.

 

Really? And then charge you how much for loans and providing you your banking services?

 

You put your immediate emergency money say $500 in a bank savings account where you can get to it on a Sunday morning or holiday. You put the rest in money market account.

 

He likes the big refund.
And now, the prez he voted for is in office, he expects a yuuuge more bigger refund.

 

So he uses it as his saving account which you say he can't afford to fund. Does he realize how stupid is his plan. He loses money doing that instead of putting it in a money market fund or even a bank savings account. Everyone should plan to owe a little more tax on April 15th, getting a big refund indicates lousy tax planning. I always just shake my head when people brag about the BIG refund they got.