Here’s the thing; American’s absolutely do need to save more money…we are towards the bottom as far as the Western world is concerned when it comes to savings and unlike our European friends the social nets in place in the US will kill you before they help you so the message on its own is a great one.

But lets not get it twisted; like in all things America finds a way to make money off the poison and to make money off the cure.

I remember the economic rags pissing their pants where after the 2008 crash during recovery consumer debt and spending started dropping because large swaths of the American economy are built on it(credit cards, obscene college costs, home and car ownership, etc.)

But then It’s irksome where at the same time they sell you these miracle cures with no basis in reality. There was one that went around a few weeks ago on this young couple that ‘retired’ to a farm upstate New York …when I read it and saw in the second paragraph she was putting hundreds of dollars a month into her personal a brokerage account, OUTSIDE OF THE THE SAVINGS THEY WERE BRAGGING ABOUT, I knew what kind of scrappy poor kids I was dealing with (via the Wall Street Journal’s serious piece on how American’s are suffering under unfair tax burdens)

https://i.imgur.com/bdgZa.jpg

(what’s great about the cartoon is that neither the cartoonist nor the writer of the original piece probably make even half of the poorest example)

It’s just remixed bootstraps with a dash of fad diet. “They did it, why can’t you?”. You’ve got webpages dedicated to it, books dedicated to it (Rich Dad, Poor Dad is the devil), etc. It also fits perfectly in the super Christian ‘Hard work and Jesus!’ will get you there lie of the American dream.

It’s why when I read articles on slowing down home ownership and the slant is millenials are simply chosing not to buy/like having roommates/love hanging with their parents as opposed to being locked out of the market.

Or how those same scrappy millenials love the share economy where the reality is future generations have to have multiple side hustles to make ends meet (when the previous generation could do it on one fulltime job)

Basically, ALWAYS SAVE. But don’t fall for the okey doke.