Easy to say.. but the reality is that it takes money to save money. The average American income (28K per year) does not allow for any real savings regardless of what they do. No amount of financial planning will help someone making 28k. Even if they pinch pennies and manage to get 1 or 2 grand saved a year it's pretty much pointless if your only saving at that level (you will never have enough to retire).
People need to be honest with the whole saving, and investing dialogue. Whenever I read those how to save for retirement articles they always assume a person is making something like 50k+ year and advise them to save 5 - 10k per year. But the average income is much lower (28k). There is no scenario that will work for them and that's over half the population.
If you live in area where the cost of living is not super high and have no kids you sure can save money making 28k, Now the problem comes when you make 28k but have:
- $900+ rent
- $450- $550 car payment ( that's a national avg)
-$300-$400 student loan payments
- 2-4 kids
Which is the american norm.
Take those things which are VERY common and other living expenses which a lot of people have and yea at that point Ill agree saving shyt even surviving with 28k is impossible
Saving is savings IMO, yea if you have make 28k your not going to save tens of thousands each year for retirement especially if you have also those things i mentioned before but if you don't should be able to save something in case a emergency happens and that adds up over time. I make little over 28k now and can save a couple hundred a month , but i have no kids, no car payments ,live in a super cheap place and my job has a great retirement plan. I have a $38,000 student loan coming up and unless my income drops drastically it shouldnt affect my savings too much , i have planned ahead though, but i know that obviously is not the norm.
I didn't get like this over night either in the past i have defaulted on a student loan from previous school , had a car rep-owed and have had several credit cards sent to collection. I learned though and will never make that mistake again the system is meant to make us slaves to debt.
