I think the American culture, of which I am part, is currently based upon instant gratification. Heck, people spend their money before they even get it thanks to overuse of credit cards. I don't know the numbers but I would guess that most people in the U.S. are living paycheck to paycheck with no significant savings.

Dave Ramsey does a really neat radio show (website, books, workshops, training, etc...) about getting debt free and living debt free.

My family saves; I have savings on every paycheck I get. I budget the money I do have between small things - not really important though. Most have some kind of savings, but the degree of savings definitely differs based on the person, and there are *plenty* of shopaholics around the country.

oK, We are MUCH better than we were 10 years ago about saving money, and that probably has a lot to do with the uncertainity we have in our economy.

I dont 'save' a lot, in the traditional way, but I invest a lot into real estate, livestock, etc.. I do not ever invest into the stock market any longer. I decided to invest into things I could touch and see.

I have some Gold (real gold, not paper gold) and silver, lots of land.

However, there are a LOT of people in America who get $5000 and spend$5100 dollars the next day, but as a whole, we seem to be getting better at this.

@ Alderian - three cheers for Dave Ramsey. I don't do everything exactly like he says, but follow the basic principles. Very cool stuff.

I try to save money. Its tough when you don't make very much. I'd be a whole lot more careful if I didn't expect my income to triple within the next 2 years.

Could you put some number to that YJ? Then i know better what you mean with not very much...

10% of every paycheck goes straight into my 401K and anything left (not earmarked for something else) at the end of each month goes into a Roth IRA. I put away close to $1000 most months between the two.

My husband and I save as much as we can. We also don't have any credit cards so everything we buy is saved for. It works for us, but I know not everyone would be happy doing it this way.

"Could you put some number to that YJ."

No. I'm a grad student, figure it out. Like Draug, I try to put 10% away, but my 10% is not much compared to his.

Stressed - don't completely abandon the stock market. Just watch for the big dips and invest in a market index fund if you're not too confident. You should still be able to get better returns than gold. Gold has had a tremendous run of late, but it has a history of tremendous runs then decades of doing nothing

True, my 10% is $700 per month into the 401K.

So does that mean you've got a salary of $10.000 per month Draugnar?
I'm also curious if it's a replacement of insurances for example or do you have insurances and alike next to that? Is it just to rack up interest?

I don't really disapprove not having a huge bank account but I'm just curious what the reasons for having them or not having them are, and I was curious if the things implied on television were true of course :)

Again, I really need to refresh more often :)

Hard to save money when under-employed, lacking health insurance, and paying off 50k worth of loans on a master's degree. The world will be a very very different place in 20-30 years, so I am unworried about retirement anyway. I "save money" by gardening, investing in durable goods when I can, keeping my body in shape by bicycling everywhere, etc.

good soil > money. food > money. knowledge > money.

@Steephie - no, the 700 is pretax 10%. My salary is about 7K per month. I keep about $4500 after deductions and taxes and what not. 1400 per month for the house, 600 for the car, 100 for insurance, then food, gas, electric, cell, cable, sewer, etc.

My family attempts to save money, but it's hard when insurance on cars, life, etc keeps raising. The economy In Michigan is terrible since they stopped making cars in detriot. United States is a bad based economy but I feel we a attempting to get better hopefully we are.

Don't listen to PJMan - There are still cars being made in Detroit. Chrysler makes a large number of their line in the motor city region, including the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Commander at the Jefferson North Plant.

I didnt mean they dont! Im just saying they dont make as much as they used to

Well, then say that. You said they stopped making cars. That was false. They don't make as many as they used to, but they still make them. And the move away from detroit has been happening since long before the bailouts and stuff. Corvette has been made in Bowling Green, for instance, since 1981 and was made in St. Louis prior to that.

Yeah. I apoligize

I'm just having fun there. No offense intended. And yes, Michigan is hurting since the bailouts and the layoffs and stuff. But diversification was bound to happen. You can't focus on one area and not expect to grow out of it. Hamilton Ohio experienced it with the papermills leaving. Pittsburg has lost steel mills but is recovering from it. The city needed to plan for the eventuality and didn't. So Detroit has themselves to blaim for thinking they would forever be motor city.

Dave Ramsey disciple here as well.

Although I just incurred my first ever debt. It is my primary residence and we put down 20% on a 15 yr fixed - so we followed the rules. Of course a true 100% Dave disciple would go 100% down.

I've grown up in a home where the money was managed by blowing it the day after pay day. It's because of this that I am very careful about spending money. So I think that you should consider that some Americans feel pushed away by the overspending we sometimes do. And of course, us upper middle-classers are always the ones to bear the brunt of economic crises.

" And of course, us upper middle-classers are always the ones to bear the brunt of economic crises."

lol this is the biggest boost i've ever heard.

i miss putin

I think the most my wife and I ever made combined in a year is about 38k, but we have no loans other than the mortgage, which will be paid off before I'm 45. We keep about 4 months expenses in the bank, put 200 a month in a Roth IRA, and throw everything else at the mortgage. I don't feel rich, but I feel free, and I like that.

Check that, I do feel rich. I spend almost all my time doing things I enjoy with people I like and respect, I'm surrounded by people I love, and I never go hungry. That's pretty hard to beat.

If you earn more then $34,000 a year, then you are one of the richest 1% of individuals in the world.

I'm not sure that's accurate...

http://money.cnn.com/2012/01/04/news/economy/world_richest/index.htm

This is one of the reasons why people in the US who make ethical arguments about the richest 1% and what they should and shouldn't do are standing very, very close to a brink.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66PZv7Vtw3I
This is where I got that number, I don't think they have any reason to lie.

"It only takes $34,000 a year, after taxes, to be among the richest 1% in the world. That's for each person living under the same roof, including children. (So a family of four, for example, needs to make $136,000.)"
And smecks83 cnn article backs that up

+1 erist. Savings isn't always in money, but in how you live as well.

@Semck - what do you mean by close to a brink?

check your pm's goldie

@goldfinger, I mean that a lot of them are pretty close to (or in) the world's richest 1% themselves, and if it's really an ethical issue, then it would be pretty hard to explain why the ethics stop at their country's borders, and they don't owe others exactly what they're saying "the richest 1%" owes them.

I can respect a guy like Dave Ramsey. Making lots of money by telling people how to live with less.

LMAO redhouse

Thanks.
Ow and Fasces, coming from Europe, I guess the words "after taxes" pretty much change things lol.

I think I fit your idea of an American who doesn't save. I make way too much money to be living paycheck to paycheck, but I do. I have 2 modest paid off vehicles, a dodge durango to cart the kids around and a jeep wrangler to have some fun in the Arizona deserts. I have what I think is a fairly modest house, 2800 sq feet with 6 kids in a blended family, my house payment is about 1800 per month, I pay 800 child support per month, about 1000 per month in credit card bills, 400 a month for student loans, and about 1000 in utilities including family cell phone plan, cable, high speed internet,electric, gas and water. Maybe another 300 in insurance, life, auto and home. That's 5300 tame home every month if I did the math correctly, which corresponds to about 7000 pre tax. That's before food and beer.

So even though I've been in the same industry as Draugnar, for almost the same amount of time and make about the same money, if not a little more, he's far.more.wealthy than I, because of different decisions in life. Primarily kids and divorce, from.the sound of it. He's able to save a thousand bucks a month, and buy a merc. while I'm holding off my house payment until my paycheck goes through.

So if you're looking for the example of an American.who makes.a.lot but can't save, them you have your example in me, I'm afraid.

I have been told having children really puts a damper on the finances sometimes.

Well, if I ever land a real job I guess I'll know (had an interview the other day...50/50 shot of landing a sales job...they picked the other person...that was my first interview in MONTHS and they picked the other person...well, such is the way of things.)

But when I get what money I do get from tutoring, I try and split it--some to save, and some to spend on drinks and books for my own private reading ("Night and Day" by Virginia Woolf reads NOTHING like her usual style, I got it just to see how one of my favorite authors did when she was young and starting out, her 2nd novel...it bombed and even she said it was dull...it has some brief glimpses of the writer she'd become, but still...but still, it's nice to see that these people don't come out of the ether writing masterpieces...it's a never-ending source of comfort to me the greatest writer in the English language started out writing things as cheap and flawed as "The Comedy of Errors," and worked his way UP from THAT...so maybe there's hope for anyone yet...I'm sorry, what was the question, I seem to have strayed off the point, as I do?)

:p