I just read last Thursday’s paper and spotted the headline ‘Scotiabank launches nationwide savings drive.’
What? Something sensible in Canada, home to more debt on a personal, provincial and federal level than a common Joe could hit with an old wooden hockey stick?
What next? A developer will build and promote a 900 sq. ft. home along with a live small philosophy all in the same breath?
Jeepers. Why not? Anything is possible, it seems.
And what did the article actually say?
First: “A new survey suggests one third of Canadians do not have a savings plan in place to achieve their financial goals.”
In other words, 33% of us have some idea that we should have ‘financial goals’ (e.g., to maintain a certain lifestyle for a few years or into retirement) but we have no plan or are taking no action now to prepare for the future.
["Ann says: Reduce your spending, wise guy"]
Second: “Nearly one in five said they have no money at all set aside, according to the survey.”
In other words, it’s worse than I thought.
Third: “The Scotiabank poll found that 94% of Canadians say they feel better when they have a financial safety net in place, though almost one quarter admitted to living day-to-day and not saving money.”
Let’s break that down, shall we?
For most of us, a financial safety net is a ‘feel good’ thingy, like the positive feeling we get when we see a good movie.
However, most of us would rather drop money at the movies than into a piggy bank.
Fourth: "Scotiabank's 'Let the savings begin' initiative comes amid a government drive to improve financial literacy on concern people are not saving enough to finance their retirement."
So, look for our government to pat Scotiabank on the head because the federal debt is growing and, in the future, no one will be bailing out retirees.
If we don’t take care of ourselves, nobody else will.
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Reduce spending, pay down debt, save money for tough times ahead.
Where have you heard that before?
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