There are a lot of ways to save money, some documented on my blog here and many more articles scattered over the internet.
However, it seems that there is a big ‘hangover’ from the financial crisis in America.
According to bankrate.com, cash is now the preferred way to save any money which won’t be needed for at least 10 years. Over and above property, gold or stocks, savings accounts and certificates of deposit are the favoured ways to save for the midterm in the USA.
In my opinion, this has the potential to leave a lot of people short of their retirement or rainy day fund. Considering the average deposit account in America yields only 0.11%, a $10,000 dollar initial investment would only accrue $110.55 over 10 years.
Although higher income households have a propensity for saving with the stock market according to bankrate.com, 1 in 5 of these types of households still prefer cash to avoid the risk associated with stock markets.
The study also found that people under 30 were the most likely to save in cash, and adults between the ages of 50 -64 were more likely to save in stocks.
This means that people under 30 may find themselves very short when they come to retire as their savings will have hardly made any money at all.
This looks like a high level of risk aversion across the board, or perhaps those under 30 years old do not feel that they are well informed about other methods of saving.
Whichever it is, I think we can count on the fact that when my generation comes to retire, there will be many Americans out of pocket. How do you prefer to save your money?
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