Study: Saving money is "too hard"

I found an article on CBC.ca today, which basically talks about a TD Canada Trust study that suggests 80% of Canadians found saving money “too hard” and that young people between 18-34 were more interested in saving for a house than for retirement.

Too hard, or too lazy???

They interviewed a 32-year-old from Vancouver who said that he hasn’t started saving yet for retirement, saying “I am too young to think about that,” and would rather save for a down payment instead (although he admitted he hadn’t started saving for that either).

Which makes me frustrated. What good is a house if you’re still paying for it when you’re 65? And what good is retirement if you’re barely scraping by?

It all boils down to a lack of discipline and priority. Isn’t this just what I was talking about the other day!? It’s unrealistic for people in my age group (mid/late 20′s) to save money for retirement (and for emergencies) AND go on expensive trips multiple times a year, buy a nice car and the latest gadgets, and party every night. Unless you’re rich. But even then, I think the people who complain that it’s “too hard” would complain even if they were making 6 figures.

If you’re in your mid/late 20′s and can’t save money and/or don’t have any savings, there’s a problem (unless you’re getting out of debt, but even then, you should still be putting away some money in an Emergency Fund and Retirement). Don’t buy an iPod. Don’t buy an expensive car. Don’t go out to eat every day. Don’t go on those expensive trips. Don’t move into a more expensive apartment. Even if your friends are doing it, just don’t. BECAUSE YOU OBVIOUSLY CAN’T AFFORD IT.

If you have an expensive hobby, then budget for it. It might mean giving up having a new car (and driving a used one), or not going out to eat as much, or not going on that trip. But you can’t do everything you want to do. That’s just not how life works. You have to make some sacrifices now in order to live the life you want to live in the future. A sad, but true reality.

Saving should be priority #1. Pay yourself first. Then do whatever you want with the rest of your money. And once you get into the habit of paying yourself first, you won’t even think twice about putting money away into savings every pay period.

Not sure if you’re saving enough to live the life you want to live come retirement? Plug your numbers into an RRSP Calculator and check it out!

One Response to “Study: Saving money is "too hard"”

Author comments are in a darker gray color for you to easily identify the posts in the comments

1. Jaime says:

   Monday, July 4, 2011 - 04:41pm at 4:16 pm

   Honestly I don't feel bad for people like that. Actually a lot of millionaires whether self-made or by inheritance, have gone broke because they either spent too much, invested in bad investments, or had someone else manage their money like when a lot of people trusted Bernie Madoff to diversify for them. Some people took out money from other investments and banks and put it all into his company.

   Last semester in college I took Macroeconomics, it was such a boring class but I did learn. While humans have unlimited desires, our resources are limited. I really think it's just important to choose what is most important to you. In today's world with so many companies who advertise to just about every income level, life is as affordable or as expensive as a person wants it to be.

   For example: You could shop at Ralph Lauren, Chanel, Gucci, Prada or you could head over to Macy's, JCPenney, even J.Crew and get more affordable clothes. If you even want to save more than at department stores you can go to TJ Maxx, Target, Ross, Forever 21, etc.

   It's all about choices. So what if your clothes are from Forever 21 or Macy's? No biggie, they're still clothes and they still look cute. :)

   Reply

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