I’ve written about the bogusosity of the official savings rate statistics, but here’s another slant from the always-remarkable Seth Godin:
According to a recent report, more than two-thirds of recent immigrants to the USA send money home regularly. The worst-paid, poorest people in the country manage to save enough to send some back to the old country. The US Ambassador from El Salvador says that the two million Salvadorians in the U.S. sent enough money home to account for 13 percent of the GDP of his country.
At the same time, nearly two-thirds of American households are in debt. Many of them in serious debt. If the housing market falters, all those triple mortgages and home equity loans go under water, which means that people will have to sell their houses to get the money to pay off the loans, and the cycle starts.
So maybe you really could max out your 401-k and add a bit to your brokerage account as well.
By the way, if you haven’t read any of Seth’s books, pick one up today, like maybe Purple Cow
