Today I learned that 69% of Americans have < $1,000 in savings - are you surprised by this number? How much money makes you think of someone as "rich?"

Real estate and medical debt, including and specifically deductibles in high-deductible health care plans (I have one), have been seriously hampering people's ability to save.

I'm fortunate, but I know a lot of people who are not financially irresponsible who simply cannot put away lots of money in savings and/or who have lost their homes.

My ability to save, so far, has been a result of:

  • Pure dumb luck, including no disastrous drains of finances. I am married with no children, a DINK, which also helps immensely. My wife works hard, long hours.

  • Parents who weren't cheap or miserly, but were frugal and talked to me frequently about savings, retirement, taxes, and budgeting. My father grilled me constantly when I got a job that offered a 401K to start saving immediately and wouldn't quit until I confirmed to him that I did. I would have done that anyway but that's an example of what my parents are like. I lived then as I do now in abject financial paranoia on a day to day basis. Finances are an every day thing, not a once-a-month thing, for me. I check my bank accounts once per day and my savings about twice a month, which right now, as you can imagine, is stressful.

  • Being neurotic about credit card debt and being even more neurotic about spending money. I live in a home smaller than I can afford. I buy very little for myself in terms of luxuries. This is not a matter of character and discipline, but pure dysfunctional financial neurosis over which I have no control. It is paranoia and worry. I currently have no credit card debt, because lucky me.

  • Parents who had me working since I was 13 (paper route) onward to the present, encouraging me to earn money to buy the things I wanted through working the unpleasant, shitty jobs available to young people. I've worked in self-storage facilities, as a cashier in a grubby discount store, concession stand in a large amusement park (the worst job I ever had), and so on. I learned to put up with hating my job and my bosses and doing it anyway. I don't recommend this, but it has some upsides. Currently I work in a job I hate, but for bosses I like, so I can only complain so much. I have no interpersonal issues doing my job which goes a long way, when I think I want to quit and walk into the woods to die or something.

  • The understanding that work is misery and I would likely never find employment doing something I liked (I salute those who do). Resigned, therefore, to hating work, my day-to-day attitude has been: I can work hard in a shitty job for low pay. I can slack in a shitty job for low pay. I can work hard in a shitty job for higher pay. I am probably not smart enough to find a job I can slack in for higher pay. I chose the third option. I figured early on if I was going to be miserable working (and I am), I was going to do it for as much pay as possible. To that end, I constantly sought out opportunities even doing things I had no interest in doing provided they paid well. I don't say no to my employers. This may make me a dishrag, but it makes me a very employable, and fairly paid one.

I have no idea how to fix this problem as life shouldn't be like this. I have friends who work harder than I do, who are smarter than I am, for far less pay and security.

/r/AskAnAmerican Thread