Where You Are Now

Click here to read part one if you missed it last week…

The American Dream has changed from achieving a dream to obtaining things, to solely having processions. This is not all bad but I believe that the dream was originally for freedom, which is something money cannot buy. It was the pursuit of happiness, opportunity, and freedom. The American Dream, when it originated, spoke to the souls of immigrants coming to our country, it inspired them to do great things and to achieve their dreams! But as the years have passed, and times have changed, the American dream has become more about the tangible items we can buy instead of the intangibles (happiness, opportunity, freedom). This change was only a matter of time.

When I go Church the last thing on my mind is that our country was founded by a group of people who wanted freedom of religion. They did not want the State to control their Church so what did they do? They left in pursuit of freedom. The American Dream for the pilgrims was freedom of religion.

When I smell the meals that my wife cooks I am not thinking about starving children in Africa. When I crawl into my bed at night, I am not thinking about what the families in the trash dumps of Mexico City are sleeping in.

What I am saying is that the original dream has become a reality. In the eyes of our founding fathers we are living the American Dream. But for us today, for us as a culture and society, that is not good enough and we are not living that Dream (in our eyes). We have happiness, we have opportunity, and we have freedom. But my neighbor has the new Mercedes, and my brother just bought the new G1 from T-Mobile. Tom Cruise has a palace for a house and George Clooney has a nice “little” getaway on Lake Como, Italy.  Things are now the American Dream.

And what is a dream, can become a reality with the use of a credit card, bank loan, personal loan, or even a student loan. Gone are the days of saving your money. And why should you? You can get all the money you need if you just fill out this application, or use this piece of plastic instead of your own cash. Achieving the American Dream no longer means sailing across the Atlantic in search of something better, it has instead become emptying your savings so that you have a stylish boat to do it in.

In the The Federal Reserve Board’s Survey of Consumer Finances for 2004, the researches gathered some interesting information about America and our saving habits.  From 2001 – 2004 this report showed that in the preceding year, respondents who had saved money had dropped 3.1% to 56.1%.

Across most of the demographic
groups over the recent three-year period, the
predominant pattern is also one of a decline in the
proportion of families that saved.

I don’t know about you but this bothers me. Sure, we’re on the positive side of things here in that over half of our population is saving money, but what about the others. That still leaves a TON of families that are not saving any money!  I hope and pray that you are not among the 43.9% who is not saving money. If you are though, please, ask yourself why. What do you need to do so that you can save money. Is it trimming the fat off of your budget or getting a second job? Figure it out and do it.

I have for many years been pretty well convinced that saving
money is largely a matter of habit, and people who make a
good beginning at it presently discover that it is by no means
impossible, and it is altogether a good thing to do. Just at
this juncture in the word’s and our country’s affairs it is certainly
one of the most useful contributions
that people could possibly make to putting the world right.
I do not believe there is any other way to straighten out
the tangle of financial and economic concerns into
which the world has been precipitated by the war, than to
produce a good deal more than we consume, which means, to save, and by our savings to re-establish the world’s stores or
working capital.  I have no more earnest hope than that
the public may take this lesson to heart and learn … save as,
in view of our great national good fortune, they could be
able to do it.

–Warren G. Harding
U.S. President 1921-1923

So what does all of this mean for you? Stop relying on other people’s money (credit cards, loans, etc) and start taking responsibility for yourself! Here is what you NEED to do. Save $1,000. Yes, that’s it and that’s all; one thousand dollars. Save it and keep it somewhere safe (not connected to a checking account or check book) but accessible (I have ours in a money market where a transfer is a click or phone call away if necessary). If you have debt you are working on, make minimum payments until you can save this thousand. Why? Because when your car breaks down you won’t have to add to the credit card debt.

In the beginning on this article I was ranting and raving about how we spend too much money and are so consumed with the idea of having lots of stuff that we have lost focus of what we need to be using our money for. You are probably wondering how saving $1,000 (or anything at all for that matter) is related to what has become the American Dream (lots of stuff). It is simple, really, and it goes something like this: the more you spend the less you save. Simple math will show you that if you make $2,000 every month and spend $1,950 you are saving $50. A majority of people will make $2,000 and spend $2,400 leaving them with -$400.

The American Dream has shifted its focus from the long term (sailing across the Atlantic to begin a journey searching for freedom) and is instead obsessed with the here and now. This is evident in our spending and saving habits. I challenge you to shift your “American Dream” from the things that you own to the money you have saved (true wealth is not shown by the car that you drive but instead by the size of your savings account). This will provide you with a cushion that will keep you from using debt and relying on others to meet your needs.