A Little History

I came across and interesting article today that provided several facts about what has happened to our economy over the last 2 years since the Dow Jones Industrial Average all time high in October, 2007.

During 2007, there were a lot of articles about Americans not saving enough money.
Here's one(ironically from the beginning of October 2007).
And another from December 2007.
And another all the way from 2005.

But here are some interesting facts about our current situation:

- -0.5 percent: Personal savings rate in 2005 as home prices were soaring.

-- 6.9 percent: Personal savings rate in May.

-- $975 billion: Credit card debt held by Americans last September.

-- $899 billion: Credit card debt held at the end of August, down 8 percent.

These are good signs. It shows we are adjusting our outlook on how we use our money. We all must continue to make smart choices for both our individual AND collective financial future. Make sure you are honest with yourself about whether or not the item you are about to purchase is a WANT or a NEED. If it is a want, and you ALREADY have the money to pay for it, then fine. If not, it is NOT hurting you to wait but it may hurt you if you go ahead and buy it only to have an unexpected thing happen (e.g. car needs to be repaired) and you don't have the money so you quickly wind up in debt.

Have we all learned our lesson? Let's hope so. As my grandfather always said "Every school costs money" and we have all been affected financially by the changes in our economy. We have to make our choices wisely and follow the right example. We certainly can NOT act as our government does; it certainly does not know how to handle money.

So stay positive and keep making good choices. Before we know it, things will be much better and hopefully we have learned enough to avoid going down the wrong road again!