What does this say.... - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

kip Foss · #1 12-05-2010, 03:50 PM

about the greatest capitalistic country in the world.

http://www.woosk.com/2009/11/average-bank-balance-per-person-in-usd.html

kerry · #2 12-05-2010, 03:55 PM

I don't get that. A negative number? Are they taking debt into account?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/04/AR2006030400238.html

That article at least cites it's source. $3800 is the average family balance.

kip Foss · #3 12-05-2010, 04:00 PM

I think they are talking about personal debt not national.

#4 12-05-2010, 04:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kip Foss

I think they are talking about personal debt not national.

That is a very scary number.

kerry · #5 12-05-2010, 04:26 PM

Average credit card debt:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/credit/2010-08-25-credit-card-balances_N.htm

If you combine that number with the average bank balance of $3800, perhaps that is the source of the number in the original post.

tbomachines · #6 12-05-2010, 05:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craig

That is a very scary number.

$3,800 in my bank account would make me feel rich. I'm just trying to figure out how I'm going to eat and pay for gas until my next paycheck (seriously, not joking here). Take debt into account? Lets just say its in the 6 figure range and I hope to have it paid by age 40. I just took out another gov't loan for my next semester of grad school so its just growing. Scary, huh!? Sad part is I'm in a much better position than about 75% of my middle-class-raised college friends since I worked through my four years of undergrad and I'm on top of my bills--which is much more to be said than many recent grads. Not having a car payment is a huge help as well. So anyways, who wanted to talk about not having money?

Hatterasguy · #7 12-05-2010, 05:25 PM

Wow and I get nervous if it don't have at least 6-10 months worth of living expenses on hand.

Since I just charged my new computer my CC debt is IMHO very high at $1200. I can't imagine floating big balances that's no way to live.

I only charged the computer to get Cabela's points, I'll pay the balance off when I get the bill in Jan.

Skid Row Joe · #8 12-05-2010, 05:49 PM

Those numbers surprise me not....

At my age, I would get nervous if I didn't have perhaps 10 years or more of living expenses on hand. My reserves have reserves, which seems to differ from most American's risk meters.

The numbers speak volumes for themselves:
52% of all American households don't have $5K to their name.
26% of all American households don't even have $1K to their name.

These statistics seem to indicate that waves of Americans may be totally clueless on what it takes to get and stay ahead financially.
This leaves approximately 25% of all American households that possess $5K+ or more in savings.

Many Americans are very BIG consumers of money & credit, even when in the negative balance range. Sad...

SwampYankee · #9 12-05-2010, 06:01 PM

Woot! I'm above average!

It's no secret that I've been deep in the debt hole so I know it's possible to dig yourself out (as well as how easy it is do fall in). In my case it was the desire to have my wife stay at home with the kids despite not being able to afford it. That was our sacrifice for what we thought was best. For the first 10 years, and three kids we were at a net loss every year by about $5K/yr, in addition to expenses we ran up at school. Operating in the black is a recent (last three years) thing for me although I'm not quite to comfortable stage yet.

The Clk Man · #10 12-05-2010, 06:36 PM

The lesser in this World, will soon be the Greater. Trust me on this one.

420benz · #11 12-05-2010, 07:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skid Row Joe

Those numbers surprise me not....

At my age, I would get nervous if I didn't have perhaps 10 years or more of living expenses on hand. But I realize my risk meter is touchier than most American's risk meters.

The numbers speak volumes for themselves:
52% of American households don't have $5K to their name.
26% of households don't even have $1K to their name.

These statistics seem to indicate that waves of Americans may be totally clueless on what it takes to get and stay ahead financially.
This leaves approximately 25% of American households that possess $5K+ or more in savings.

Many Americans are very BIG consumers of money & credit, even when in the negative balance range. Sad...

I keep reading about how much money you have and a i am very happy for you but unless i missed a post on how you got so rich how did you get so rich? BTW: You don't have to respond.

4x4_Welder · #12 12-05-2010, 08:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skid Row Joe

Those numbers surprise me not....

At my age, I would get nervous if I didn't have perhaps 10 years or more of living expenses on hand. But I realize my risk meter is touchier than most American's risk meters.

The numbers speak volumes for themselves:
52% of American households don't have $5K to their name.
26% of households don't even have $1K to their name.

These statistics seem to indicate that waves of Americans may be totally clueless on what it takes to get and stay ahead financially.
This leaves approximately 25% of American households that possess $5K+ or more in savings.

Many Americans are very BIG consumers of money & credit, even when in the negative balance range. Sad...

Moreso, I think the debt-savings ratio shown shows how much of a disparity there is between inflation and the increase of pay rates.
Couple that with all these things people can't live without, and expenses are out of control. Think about what marketing tells you you need:
Cell phone
Computer with internet service
Some sort of pay TV service, with "premium" channels
New car
Huge house
Fancy jewelry
frequent restaurant meals

The list goes on and on, in just the example above you're looking at well over $2000 a month before you get to housing. Housing is probably another $2k per month, plus it's associated expenses like electricity, water, heat and so on, so before you know it, you and your spouse are both working full time to make ends meet. Then your neighbor goes and buys a boat or Harley or vacation property, so because your balls are in your wife's purse you have to have the same or better. Get a loan, another payment out the window, and further in debt.
On top of all this is that the current "adult" group was raised by a group with an overblown sense of entitlement, who had money to blow thanks to their parents. Pre-50's US society was very economically minded for the most part, and there simply weren't the cash siphons there are today. People could save up enough to buy a car or a house for cash, or have a quite small loan on it. Loan interest rates reflected this and controlled it to some extent by being fairly high.
Nowadays, you get a loan for everything so you can have it now, instead of saving up for it. When was the last time you heard someone seriously say they were saving up for a house, car, or other expensive thing and actually mean a sizeable portion of the cost?

kerry · #13 12-05-2010, 08:53 PM

My wife teaches at a fairly poor school. A student came in this week with a $900 phone bought for him by his mother.

Chas H · #14 12-05-2010, 08:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skid Row Joe

Those numbers surprise me not....

At my age, I would get nervous if I didn't have perhaps 10 years or more of living expenses on hand. But I realize my risk meter is touchier than most American's risk meters.

The numbers speak volumes for themselves:
52% of American households don't have $5K to their name.
26% of households don't even have $1K to their name.

These statistics seem to indicate that waves of Americans may be totally clueless on what it takes to get and stay ahead financially.
This leaves approximately 25% of American households that possess $5K+ or more in savings.

Many Americans are very BIG consumers of money & credit, even when in the negative balance range. Sad...

The numbers mean nothing without a cite for the source.

#15 12-05-2010, 08:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4x4_Welder

Moreso, I think the debt-savings ratio shown shows how much of a disparity there is between inflation and the increase of pay rates.
Couple that with all these things people can't live without, and expenses are out of control. Think about what marketing tells you you need:
Cell phone
Computer with internet service
Some sort of pay TV service, with "premium" channels
New car
Huge house
Fancy jewelry
frequent restaurant meals

The list goes on and on, in just the example above you're looking at well over $2000 a month before you get to housing. Housing is probably another $2k per month, plus it's associated expenses like electricity, water, heat and so on, so before you know it, you and your spouse are both working full time to make ends meet. Then your neighbor goes and buys a boat or Harley or vacation property, so because your balls are in your wife's purse you have to have the same or better. Get a loan, another payment out the window, and further in debt.
On top of all this is that the current "adult" group was raised by a group with an overblown sense of entitlement, who had money to blow thanks to their parents. Pre-50's US society was very economically minded for the most part, and there simply weren't the cash siphons there are today. People could save up enough to buy a car or a house for cash, or have a quite small loan on it. Loan interest rates reflected this and controlled it to some extent by being fairly high.
Nowadays, you get a loan for everything so you can have it now, instead of saving up for it. When was the last time you heard someone seriously say they were saving up for a house, car, or other expensive thing and actually mean a sizeable portion of the cost?

I agree in part, one big contributor to this mess is the availability of very easy credit. Hopefully, credit will become significantly tighter; but I don't really see that happening because there is still too much money on the sidelines looking for investments.