Posts Tagged "Housing"
December 6, 2011
United States of Credit
The holidays have arrived, and our credit cards are getting a workout. Sheldon Garon, author of “Beyond Our Means: Why America Spends While the World Saves” (November 2011), maintains that gift shopping isn’t only about giving – it’s our civic duty, we’re told.
Squared Away interviewed the Princeton University historian about world savings rates and America’s “democratization of credit.”
Q: Americans have tightened their belts. How does our current 4 percent savings rate compare with the rest of the world?
Garon: The Chinese save at extraordinary rates, about 26%. But that’s something that happens with Asian economies just as they’re taking off. The Japanese and Korean economies did that too. The really interesting place is continental Europe. . . . The United States should be going down in its savings rates, because we’re an aging society. But the Europeans should be going down even farther, because they have more rapidly aging societies and very low birth rates. But the German, French, Austrian and Belgian savings rates are around 10 percent – Sweden has gone up to 13%.
Q: How did debt become culturally acceptable here?
Garon: Before the 1920s, it was no honor to be indebted. When installment buying became popular in the 1920s, that was seen as an acceptable form of debt. But we reached a new stage in the early 1990s, when society considered you stupid if you didn’t take on more debt. Why would you save up for something if you could borrow so easily?
What do you think of Garon’s take on U.S. financial culture? Squared Away would like to hear your comments after you read the full interview. …Learn More
June 7, 2011
Forced into Retirement? Downsize
Laid off from his job as a software engineer, Ken Wadland did something smart: he downsized.
After losing his job in June 2009, it immediately became obvious to Wadland that he could not afford his large house in the Rhode Island countryside. He sold it and purchased a condominium to reduce his housing costs, which are the largest single expense for most households.
The financial-services industry barrages baby boomers with tips for saving and investing their retirement nest eggs. But little attention is paid to the strategy of downsizing, an effective way for baby boomers to improve their retirement security by cashing in on the large amounts of equity built up in their homes over decades.
“I’d rather not have the expense,” Wadland, who is 60, said in this video.
Ken Wadland from Over Fifty and Out of Work on Vimeo.
Wadland explained how he came around to his decision in the online video series, “Over 50 and Out of Work,” which is featured occasionally in Squared Away.
His most recent job was at a large company, which once awarded him for being an innovator. “My passion is solving puzzles,” said Wadland. …
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About Squared Away
Learn more about our blog and its writer, Kimberly Blanton, a former Boston Globe reporter.
