The social stigma of going into foreclosure seems to have decreased in the last few years as almost three-quarters of U.S. households found themselves underwater with their mortgages, and “walking away” from a home became commonplace. However, two recently released figures suggest that homeowners feel a renewed sense of financial obligation to their homes and are more likely to be paying their bills.
And here’s another hint as to why the national savings rate has decreased: According to a recent survey-two-thirds of Americans are suffering from “frugal fatigue.” In other words, they’re sick of maintaining careful budgets, abstaining from fun splurges, restricting spending, and all that business about responsibility and living below one’s means.
Gasoline, food, and all manner of consumer goods cost more in Germany than they do in the U.S. So why is it that the average German consumer spends significantly less than his American counterpart?
Consumers didn’t come to their senses out of the blue, realizing all of a sudden that they’ve been wasting enormous sums of money on “mindless accumulation,” as a new book puts it. Instead, the Great Recession, with its destruction of investment portfolios, home values, and many people’s careers, has forced folks to come to an [...]
Do government policies make it much easier to be a spender rather than a saver?
A new infographic from the The Atlantic cites a mess of stats that indicate Americans can be described as twitchy, suspicious, admired, filthy, and thrifty, among other adjectives. Just how thrifty are we? In 2009, 42.8% of groceries were sold on promotion, and 2.4 billion coupons were redeemed, up 26% from the year before.
Because of changes to health care, the credit card industry, personal savings habits, and other parts of the economy, observers say that in the near future the U.S. may not look like the U.S. as we now know it. Instead, it may look a lot like … somewhere else.
As we leave 2009 behind, there are many signs that life will be way better in the year to come.
It’s the time of year to make resolutions, or at least it’s the time for journalists to write stories about making resolutions. This year especially, these resolutions involve better money management. But come on: If you didn’t figure out how to take care of your money this year—a year when everybody was scrimping and saving—you [...]
Does anyone see a conflict here?
