The golden fifth
The
country that I come from didn't even have the possibility of personal
bankruptcy a few years ago when I left, and I don't think that they
have it even today. This at least encourages certain thrifty attitude.
The moments when I feel most like being an outsider to the mainstream
North American culture are when I remember that in these great and
wealthy nations in which the median annual income is something to the
order of $40K, someone who saves even $100/month is a rare exemplar of
personal financial responsibility.
Of course I can understand that someone who is un- or underemployed or riddled by a torrent of surprise expenses and is already scrimping is unable to save. What I am completely unable to understand are seemingly normal, even intelligent adults who work steady jobs (which probably pay a lot more than me or my wife earn) but don't save at all. And I am not even talking about saving some chickenshit $100 each month, which is a good start but really nothing to be proud of. As I see it, for any steadily-working adult saving anything less than 10% of their pretax income is simply irresponsible. A fifties home ec textbook that I once read as a kid recommended saving 20%, and this is the figure that I would also recommend.
The vast masses of people who live paycheck to paycheck must be far harder men than I am. It must be so. Knowing myself, I simply wouldn't have the nerves or the guts to live on the edge like that, neither literally and figuratively. Merry spending is probably great fun as long as it lasts, but it's just one slip and you enter the death spiral of credit card interest. And of course most people don't even need the slip. But go ahead. After all, somebody has to finance the convenience that I get from using the one single credit card whose charges I completely pay off each month.
Call me a physical conservative, but everyone must eventually bring down their standard of living to the level that they can realistically afford. Countless books and websites have been written about this topic, so there is no need for me to start giving instructions on how to bring your standard of living to a sustainable level. I already know how to do it, and it's really no skin off my back if some people choose not to. (Until my taxes are needed to pay their welfare cheques.)
I might be wrong, of course. After all, anyone who has purchased any kind of home in any major population center during the last ten years has probably seen their net worth on paper soar totally without effort.
Of course I can understand that someone who is un- or underemployed or riddled by a torrent of surprise expenses and is already scrimping is unable to save. What I am completely unable to understand are seemingly normal, even intelligent adults who work steady jobs (which probably pay a lot more than me or my wife earn) but don't save at all. And I am not even talking about saving some chickenshit $100 each month, which is a good start but really nothing to be proud of. As I see it, for any steadily-working adult saving anything less than 10% of their pretax income is simply irresponsible. A fifties home ec textbook that I once read as a kid recommended saving 20%, and this is the figure that I would also recommend.
The vast masses of people who live paycheck to paycheck must be far harder men than I am. It must be so. Knowing myself, I simply wouldn't have the nerves or the guts to live on the edge like that, neither literally and figuratively. Merry spending is probably great fun as long as it lasts, but it's just one slip and you enter the death spiral of credit card interest. And of course most people don't even need the slip. But go ahead. After all, somebody has to finance the convenience that I get from using the one single credit card whose charges I completely pay off each month.
Call me a physical conservative, but everyone must eventually bring down their standard of living to the level that they can realistically afford. Countless books and websites have been written about this topic, so there is no need for me to start giving instructions on how to bring your standard of living to a sustainable level. I already know how to do it, and it's really no skin off my back if some people choose not to. (Until my taxes are needed to pay their welfare cheques.)
I might be wrong, of course. After all, anyone who has purchased any kind of home in any major population center during the last ten years has probably seen their net worth on paper soar totally without effort.
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