Are You Saving Too Much?

With so many articles lately talking about the savings rate of Americans being negative (and they are), it’s somewhat interesting to see an article written from the other perspective, are you saving too much? They contend that it may be better for some people, especially if they’ve been good savers in their earlier years, to reduce their retirement savings and instead invest it in home improvement or education.

The people claiming we may be saving too much bring up a couple good points. The first is that it’s generally the financial services industry that popularizes the “not saving enough” articles because, let’s face it, they want to control more of your money so they can earn more money in fees. Second, the saving too much crowd contends that if you save it all for retirement and don’t enjoy it now, you’re wasting your youth – which is an excellent point. Which would you enjoy more, going on a backpacking tour of Europe when you were 16 or 60?

It’s a good article and it’s nice to see another side to the argument.


Posted

in

by

Tags:

Comments

2 responses to “Are You Saving Too Much?”

  1. […] Retirement Blog asks whether or not you’re saving too much. It’s a good question — while it’s important to plan for the future, don’t […]

  2. Like much else in life, it’s all about balance. I can certainly see how some people can get so concerned about saving that they don’t enjoy the here and now.

    As they say, everything in moderation, including moderation… 🙂