70% of Americans Have Less than $1000

We are told that America is the richest nation to have ever lived on the face of the earth!  We have $50,000 pickup trucks, huge houses, Cancun vacations, we eat out at restaurants multiple times per week, and we put everything else we want on credit cards!

But what do the balance sheets of ordinary Americans actually look like?

Not good.....

The U.S. is often referred to as the land of economic opportunity. Apparently, it's also the land of consumption and "spend everything you've got."

We don't have to look far for confirmation that Americans are generally poor savers. Every month the St. Louis Federal Reserve releases data on personal household savings rates. In July 2016, the personal savings rate was just 5.7%. Comparatively, personal savings rates in the U.S. 50 years ago were double where they are today, and nearly all developed countries have a higher personal savings rate than the United States. In other words, Americans are saving less of their income than they should be — the recommendation is to save between 10% and 15% of your annual income — and they're being forced to do more with less in terms of investing.

However, new data emerged this week from personal-finance news website GoBankingRates that shows just how dire Americans' savings habits really are.

Last year, GoBankingRates surveyed more than 5,000 Americans only to uncover that 62% of them had less than $1,000 in savings. Last month GoBankingRates again posed the question to Americans of how much they had in their savings account, only this time it asked 7,052 people. The result? Nearly seven in 10 Americans (69%) had less than $1,000 in their savings account.

Breaking the survey data down a bit further, we find that 34% of Americans don't have a dime in their savings account, while another 35% have less than $1,000. Of the remaining survey-takers, 11% have between $1,000 and $4,999, 4% have between $5,000 and $9,999, and 15% have more than $10,000.

Furthermore, even though lower-income adults struggle with saving money more than middle- and upper-income folks, no income group did particularly well. Some 29% of adults earning more than $150,000 a year, and 44% making between $100,000 and $149,999, had less than $1,000 in savings. Comparatively, 73% of the lowest income adults (those earnings $24,999 or less annually) had less than $1,000 in their savings account.

There was even minimal difference between multiple generations of Americans. From seniors aged 65 and up to young millennials aged 18 to 24, between 62% and 72% of Americans had less than $1,000 in a savings account.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2016/10/09/savings-study/91083712/

The article goes on to give tips of how to live more responsibly so you can actually live within your means.

Here's a really good rule....IF YOU DON'T HAVE THE MONEY THEN DON'T BUY IT!

"But Dennis, I really needed a brand new car....so would it be good to borrow for a new car?"

No!  If you don't have the money THEN don't buy it.

"But Dennis, the Cruise to the Bahamas had a 2 for 1 sale going on if I booked it today....so wouldn't it be good to borrow the money to buy that cruise so I could actually save money?"

No!  If you don't have the money THEN don't but it.

"How about if the furniture store has a sale going on today only that if I buy the sofa I get an easy-chair for free...then should I buy the furniture so I get a free chair?"

No!  If you don't have the money THEN don't but it.

"But Dennis, I can see that you simply don't want me to have any fun or any nice things....so I reject your advice...because you are not a nice person!"

One final question....WHAT political party would you assume MOST PEOPLE WHO HAVE NO MONEY actually vote for....Democrat or Republican?

Once you answer that question, you will begin to realize the enormity of this nation's predicament.

God said he would give His children everything that we NEED....NOT everything that we want.