Not Your Average: Thrifty And Proud Of It!

In March, the Huffington Post wrote an article entitled "43% of Americans Have Less Than 10K For Retirement". The article went on to say that the recent economic downturn has caused more American workers to cut back on retirement savings in just the last year. About a year ago, Visual Economics put together a very interesting diagram, "How the Average U.S. Consumer Spends Their Paycheck". The diagram shows that when the percentage spent on food and the percentage spent on entertainment are totaled, they become the second largest expenditure for the average American household. While Americans spend 5.4% on entertainment, only 1.9% is spent on education and 0.2% is spent on reading. There seemed to be no category at all for saving in this diagram. For a closer look at this article check out this link. http://www.visualeconomics.com/how-the-average-us-consumer-spends-their-paycheck/
My goal in keeping this blog is to inspire you to become better than the average American, to be thrifty, look at how you spend money and save anywhere you can. I have been inspired and encouraged on so many fronts to change my habits and begin to become a better saver. Russel Peter, a comedian, recently joked that while many nationalities are so proud of being cheap and thrifty, Americans seem to be some of the only ones wanting to be known for how much they can spend! I am determined to become an above average saving American that is thrifty and proud of it!