The Teen’s Guide to Personal Finance Blog

Young workers not saving for the future, says San Francisco Chronicle

Today’s stock market woes and the ongoing crisis in the financial industry are very alarming.

Now new evidence shows that young workers are not saving for their futures. David Pitt (Associated Press) released an interesting, yet concerning article in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Read the whole SF Chronicle article here.

Mr. Pitt discusses how current 20 and 30-somethings are pulling money from their retirement savings to pay off credit card debt or to make mortgage payments.

“Our research revealed that younger generations are more likely to use credit than save for short-term purchases, which results in an ongoing struggle with debt management,” said Pam Norley, executive vice president with Fidelity Consulting Group. “There’s a real instant gratification approach that they have and I’m not sure it just goes with age. We’re seeing even in the folks in their early 30s, they actually have workplace savings and change jobs, then use it for other purposes.”

In our writings and teachings, we emphasize that saving for retirement at an early age is the tried-and-true method for financial success over the long term. Understanding needs versus wants and budgeting your income with necessary expenses is one way to ensure you have enough money to save.

Sure it is difficult to see account statements in decline (particularly after today), but one of the many benefits of youth is that you have time to weather the storm.

Stay the course, keep your cool, and you will be fine.

Q&A

Use this category to ask the authors questions on personal finance. Whether it is a particular topic from the book or something not included in the book, the authors and other experts are here to help.

Welcome!

Welcome to our blog! We appreciate your interest in The Teen’s Guide to Personal Finance and look forward to helping you, your children or your students increase financial literacy.

Since publishing the book in July, 2008, the public response has exceeded our expectations. Amazon sold out of their initial stock within a few weeks, the book was accepted into Jump$start’s National Coalition of Financial Literacy library, the book has been placed on shelves of several retailers, and we were featured on primetime news in Denver, Colorado.

Check back often as we continue to share our experiences, answer your questions, and update you on the latest trends in personal finance.

Teen’s Guide Authors