Fresh off the press, a couple of articles emphasizing Americans’ strong penchant for saving precisely squat:
US News: More Than 1/4 Have No E-Fund
And a related article:
Bankrate: Short on Savings, Americans Still Feeling Positive
No surprises here for followers of this blog: When you punish people for saving, you’re going to get less saving. When you reward people for blowing through every penny that hits the door, and then some, you’re going to have a nation of broke people.
But hey — as Bankrate tells us, “Americans are feeling very secure about their personal finances.” This, even though “… nearly half of those surveyed have less than three months’ worth of expenses, or nothing at all, in emergency savings.”
I’m not sure what sort of “security” these folks are aiming for, but it’s apparently one I’ve always tried to avoid.
Kim wrote:
“Three months’ worth of expenses is hard to think about when you’ve been trying to find work for so long,” says Feight. “People who (are) unemployed or underemployed are just trying to get by.”
I’m unemployed now, so I get why some people can’t save. For me, it was difficult reducing my spending so that my savings could last. But earlier in the article, there’s this:
“Psychologically, people think nothing bad is going to happen to them,” says Frederick. “Additionally, with interest rates being so low and the stock market doing well for the past 18 months, they feel that having a big emergency fund is not in their best interests because it doesn’t earn anything.”
So these people must feel invincible or something. That’s the only way I can explain this way of thinking.
Simon wrote:
Its a precarious situation to say the least living without the net of an emergency fund. Why people aren’t so much concerned with it I can’t tell. I really don’t think the argument that the E-fund is not earning them anything holds any water, its not supposed to. Its there for when $hit hits the fan…thats the rationale, not to earn returns!