Do You Save?

[ThomWV]

Generally speaking Americans do not save much. Do you?

For the purposes of this question saving money means putting some aside in either an account designed for the purpose or a long term investment vehicle. Purchase of hard assets does not count, neither do short term (Christmas Clubs) savings.

[Kitty Herder]

1. I don't have any money left over to save. Can barely pay the bills. nt

[ThomWV]

2. Me too, and I still put aside $100 per month.

[Kitty Herder]

9. You must be doing better than me. I can only dream of such a thing.

And I live simply. The internet is my one indulgence. I'm currently unemployed.

[onehandle]

3. Do 401ks count? nt

[ThomWV]

7. They sure do.

You are putting money away long term, sounds just like savings to me.

[glowing]

4. Let's try a cat.. I'd like to try and save money, but my children still have to

eat and I had to pay the electricity bill.

[cornermouse]

5. treading water.

[hobbit709]

6. My wife just got terminated from her job of 32 years

I'm getting by on $600/mo. Save?-what's that? If we have $10 left over at the end of the month, we're doing good.

[LiberalEsto]

14. Good luck to both of you.

I've been laid off, and unemployed, and I know how demoralizing and devastating that can be. I hope everything works out well.

[RB TexLa]

8. Why would you exclude hard assets? I've purchased at least some amount of gold or silver

along with my normal savings every month for the last 20 years.

[ThomWV]

10. To keep the yahoos out

You and I might have a long discussion about what is and what isn't savings but what I didn't want was the flood of yahoos who would say that they considered their home to be an investment and then go on with their tale of woe; or then there might be the coin and stamp collectors or even the baseball card guys I guess. Anyway I wanted to get away from that.

On edit: Yes, I do know the difference between a tail and a tale.

[RB TexLa]

11. Ahh, I see.

[Virginia Dare]

12. Yes, I've been socking it away for years..

once I realized that as a tail-end baby boomer, there probably wasn't going to be a whole lot left once I got to old age, and I'd be on my own. No retirement, no social security until I'm 72 or better, no health care, that's what I'm banking on.

And if by some miracle there is something there for me, hey, I'm ahead of the game.

P.S. I mostly buy bonds.

[LiberalEsto]

13. Save what?

We're struggling hard to pay $760 a month in student loans for two kids, plus $300 monthly rent for one of them so she can finish college. She works in a day care center part time, earning next to nothing, because that's the only job she could find.

[bpeale]

15. what money are you supposed to save if you're living hand to mouth

and have been for years?

[guitar man]

16. I used to

haven't been able to for the last couple years. According to my calculations, my actual cost of living has increased by approximately 18% while my actual income has increased by 1.8%

I got a 3% raise last year and a 2.5% raise this year, but the premium on my "employer provided" health coverage went up drastically taking out 3.7 of the 5.5% I've gained over the past 2 years.We got rid of cable, internet at home, cancelled all the magazine subscriptions and a lot more that I can't think of right now. Every paycheck is spent before it even arrives.

So there you have it, cost of living increases at 10 times my pay rate increase, kiss the savings goodbye :(

[Wcross]

17. Yes I do save.

I made a huge effort to pay off all my debts, now with no house payment, car payment or credit card balance I am able to save 1200 bucks a month. I have also been doing the 401k at work for the past 15 years.

[Dorian Gray]

18. I'm a saver...

I max our my IRA every year, have a 401k, and have savings on top of that.

[MoneyAdvice]

19. re:Saving Money

I don't buy this argument as some of the best personal finance plans are from that country.

http://www.canadian-money-advisor.ca/canadian-credit-repair-ebook.html> Canadian Credit Repair

[geek_sabre]

20. Grandma always taught me to save 17% of everything I earned.