Why even high earners are struggling to save

[No Name Guy]

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102590222

The report, released Thursday by SunTrust, found that even among households with incomes of $75,000 or more, roughly a third live paycheck to paycheck at least some of the time, and one-fourth of those with incomes of $100,000 or more do the same.

A third of respondents said a lack of financial discipline at least sometimes holds them back from achieving their goals. But older respondents were significantly more likely than the younger cohort to say they were not saving enough for retirement, or were not sure if they were. To some extent, that may reflect lifestyle habits more than financial struggles. Respondents cited spending on things like entertainment, clothing and dining out as affecting their ability to save.

It's like shooting fish in a barrel with these types of articles.  The stupid, it burns.  And they then get a hack later on in the article to whine about how expensive it is.  Yeah...it's as expensive as you want to make it.

Duh, people!  Quit spending all your money on shit.  And hello, it's not sometimes on that spending / choices as to why you struggle, but most of the time, especially if you're pulling in 75 to 100k annually.

[sisto]

Makes you want to smack them and say yes life is so hard because you are stupid and make poor choices.

[Davids]

$75k is a very good salary that a family of 5 should live comfortably on. Instead they waste it away, it is ashame.

[humblefi]

I think the problem is two fold.

1.
How you grew up.
If you were never exposed to financial difficulties and/or managing money, then you tend to spend money without thinking. But, spending on chocolates or fries is not that expensive. When you grow up, your habits will remain but the things you buy without thinking are a lot more expensive...cars, clothing, etc etc

2.
Peer group
One can learn from making a mistake OR learning from somebody's mistake. The first is obviously more expensive in most cases. If everybody in your peer group is doing the same thing as you (i.e. point 1 above), how can you break out of the first problem? You want to be part of your peer group and will try to fit in right? It is a vicious cycle.

I have to say that I was extremely luck to have realized my mistakes when I came across MMM....purely by accident and because my mind was ready...it was searching for freedom. I paid for my late realization and learnt a valuable lesson. I also realized that there were people in my life who tried to show me this path before...but I was not ready for it at that time.
My goal nowadays is to expose people to this alternate life...whether they are ready for it, time will tell.

Thanks for the nice topic!

[Megma]

On the bright side, the poll results in the article say 68% aren't living paycheck to paycheck. Maybe lots MMM forums readers clicked and skewed the results!

[jlajr]

A co-worker of mine who grew up in the late70s/early 80s in California told me that during one year of high school, one of his periods was split between one semester of driver's education and another semester of sex education.

My response to him was: Isn't personal finance education just as important as those other topics? Where are the parents and educators demanding mandatory personal finance education prior to high school graduation?

[thd7t]

On the bright side, the poll results in the article say 68% aren't living paycheck to paycheck. Maybe lots MMM forums readers clicked and skewed the results!

That aligns pretty exactly with what the article says, though.  They said "roughly a third".  I'd say that 32% is right on the mark.

[MsSindy]

A co-worker of mine who grew up in the late70s/early 80s in California told me that during one year of high school, one of his periods was split between one semester of driver's education and another semester of sex education.

My response to him was: Isn't personal finance education just as important as those other topics? Where are the parents and educators demanding mandatory personal finance education prior to high school graduation?

I grew up in California in the 80s and had both those courses plus financial management - it was an easy elective and not required.  I can still remember learning how to properly write out a check and balance our imaginary checkbook.  It was really about the very basics.  But we also learned a little about how to budget, as in you get paid XX and you had a list of expenses to choose from and you had to choose good ones and see how much was left over.  Some were mandatory expenses like rent, and others were optional.  I don't recall having options like, 'live with parents and save a buttload', or anything like that.  We were just getting to the heavy consumer age.