What Are We Saving For?

This week’s financial indicators were released, and they were all negative as expected...except one. The American people are actually saving money. American savings are reported to be up some 5%. It has been more than a quarter of a century since that kind of saving discipline has been reported by the American population. We obviously deserve a round of applause, don’t we? Well, in fact, our timing stinks, and we may need to look closely at our motive before it is too late. Is it really discipline or is it fear?

To begin with, Obama is not going to save us. That is not a political statement. It is a historical statement. FDR did not save us in the late twenties. He managed the spirit of a nation. Obama is doing the same now. The New Deal, as it was called, may have ultimately contributed more to the Depression than it did to cure it. I am certainly not throwing stones at anyone. I have no answers as to how much government is too much government. Those of us who have lived as free enterprise purists have several decades of banking and mortgage embarrassment to digest.
To me, the question still will come back to each of us as individuals. No matter what Washington decides to do, we have to choose what we will do. Do we invest in our future by building businesses and investing in one another or do we save it and bury it for another day? But what other day? What day will we be waiting for?

I am all for cutting out the waste. I have wasted more in my life than I care to share. I have made and am making corrective measures. But, I am not through investing in tomorrow. I am not going to hide from the risk of failure. I don’t think it is the same as a roll of the dice. I believe it is an educated belief in the spirit of this country.

So, I am going to continue to cut expenses. I am going to continue to spend less on wasteful things. And, I hope I then will have opportunity to continue to invest my money and my time in more of the opportunities and people I believe in. Otherwise, what am I saving for?