Savings????? (1 Viewer)

[Steve Zatkoff]

Recently, I have had three friends layed-off from their jobs and with the airlines and all the other companies laying off 25 to 50 percent of their work force, I have got to tell you that I am so lucky to have a spouse that emphasizes saving. We have friends that are up to their armpits in credit card and other debt and I fear for them, because if they lose their job, they will be bankrupt. I hope that all of you like myself are saving your money, so if you should be affected by a layoff, you will be able to support yourself and or your family. Good luck!
Steve

 

[SteveA]

Saving is good for individuals, but bad for the economy as a whole. Consumer spending makes up 2/3 of our gross domestic product in the U.S. Japan has a very high savings rate - and is also entering a second decade of economic malaise.
Regardless, it's always a good idea to try to save 3-6 months worth of living expenses.

 

[Carlo_M]

Yeah, that's the way I look at myself. I'm a great consumer and supporter of the economy. My SO thinks I couldn't start a savings if my life depended on it. I think the former is much more flattering than the latter.

 

[ChrisV]

Savings, eh? That's not a bad idea, maybe I'll give it a shot...

 

[Bill Catherall]

Saving is good for individuals, but bad for the economy as a whole.

I don't think that's really true unless your definition of saving is "stuffing it into a mattress." By putting your money into a bank you are putting it back into the economy. That's why a savings account is even considered an investment. Plus, in the bank the money grows so that it isn't devalued by inflation.
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Bill

 

[Mark Schermerhorn]

Steve: that is certainly much of the cause of the economic stagnation in Japan, but the US is probably just at the opposite end of the spectrum, and may be due for the same outcome. If people start losing their jobs en masse, with a lot of debt, we could go into a very hard downward spiral of bankrupcies, crushing the economy.
To me savings helps smooth out the rough economic times. Without them, they make bad economic times even worse, for everyone.
It would be nice to see Americans land somewhere in the middle: spend a fair amount, but save a lot as well.

 

[MikeM]

Japan has a very high savings rate - and is also entering a second decade of economic malaise

I should point out that when you say it has a 'high savings rate" that is the amount of people that save their money, and NOT the actual interest rate on a standard savings account.
When I lived there, the interest rate on my savings account was just over 0%....oh boy!
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[Cees Alons]

People in my country are among the biggest "savers" in the world - and our economy is doing fine, thank you very much. (Of course, there is some stagnation here too, at the moment, but I doubt if saving - or not - is good or bad for the economy in itself).
Also, I have to agree with Bill, saving by investing isn't damaging the economy at all!
In fact, Steve's advice reminds me of a certain grasshopper and an ant...
Cees

 

[LarryDavenport]

I do my part for America

I spend my paycheck long before the next one is written!
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These chicks know how to party! - MoJo JoJo

 

[Philip_G]

I agree with bill.. sort of.
I guess there's a happy medium there, some savning is great because it creates capitol for lenders to lend, but spending creates a need for people to start businesses and borrow that capitol.

 

[SteveA]

I'm not saying that people should not save money. Too much debt is definitely bad and it's always a good idea to have a rainy day fund, but when people start thinking "Oh no! People are getting laid off! The sky is falling! The sky is falling!" and stop spending money out of fear, THAT'S the exact thing that recessions are made of.
[Edited last by SteveA on October 05, 2001 at 07:45 PM]
[Edited last by SteveA on October 05, 2001 at 07:45 PM]

 

[SteveGon]

Save money AND collect dvds?

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He thought on homeland, the big timber, the air thin and chill all the year long. Tulip poplars so big through the trunk they put you in mind of locomotives set on end. He thought of getting home and building him a cabin on Cold Mountain so high that not a soul but the nighthawks passing across the clouds in autumn could hear his sad cry. Of living a life so quiet he would not need ears. And if Ada would go with him, there might be the hope, so far off in the distance he did not even really see it, that in time his despair might be honed off to a point so fine and thin that it would be nearly the same as vanishing.
-- Charles Frazier, Cold Mountain

 

[Patrick Sun]

Oh yeah, at least try to save up for 6 rainy months, and after that, stuff it in investments. I'm finally at that level, maybe a little extra, which will be tossed in my Roth IRA soon. I wind up with 24.5% (due to company match and I'm vested) of my paycheck being sent to my 401K every month.
I may not drive the nicest car, or live in the nicest house, but baby, I'm solvent, I'm liquid, and could easily make it through some rough winters if I had to do so. Paid cash for the car, and I can drive it for another 3-5 years pretty easily (though it won't impress the ladies) It ain't bragging, but just being frugal and careful.
I advocate saving because no one else will do it for you, and it'll come in handy in bad times and emergencies.