The ability to systematically save money has always been a defining characteristic of people who achieve financial success.

With college costs soaring, defined benefit pensions disappearing, and Social Security wobbling, saving money is even more important now than in the past. The good news is that millions of Americans are putting their savers’ hats on.

After steadily declining from double-digit rates in mid-1970s to a record low 2.0% in 2005, the U.S. Personal Savings Rate has staged a modest recovery. Recently, it stood at 4.5% at the end of March, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

The Personal Savings Rate is published monthly to reflect the percentage of disposable personal income remaining after all spending, including taxes. Since it includes amounts set aside in tax-advantaged accounts such as 401(k)s, IRAs and 529 plans, it reflects real progress your clients are making toward financial goals.

The more money your clients save, the more assets you can help them manage, and your income also should grow.

Unfortunately, powerful influences are working to undermine Americans' savings discipline. Here are some examples:

To defend its negative interest rate policy (NIRP), The European Central Bank (ECB) has on several occasions implied that savers are driving the Eurozone’s economic malaise, and if NIRP encourages them to spend and consume more, growth will return. On May 1, 2016, ECB Executive Board member Benoit Coeure wrote an op-ed piece in a German newspaper, in which he claimed that the euro area is generating excess savings of over 3% of its GDP, which has put downward pressure on interest rates. 3% is not a huge savings rate, and to many thrifty Germans, it sounded like a battle cry for central bankers’ war on their savings:
About a year ago, The Wall Street Journal published a tongue-in-cheek letter to American Consumers, in which it bemoaned a strong U.S. Personal Savings Rate and encouraged consumers to spend more: “Do you know the American economy is counting on you? We can’t count on the rest of the world to spend money on our stuff…You should feel lucky you’re not a Greek consumer.” The piece was widely considered to represent sentiment inside the Federal Reserve, mainly because it was written by the Journal’s Fed mouthpiece, Jon Hilsenrath, and signed “The Wall Street Journal’s Central Bank Team.”
More recently, in May, The Washington Post published a feature article "Unemployment is down. Gas prices are low. Why isn’t America shopping?" The Post said that because of sales declines, the U.S. retailing industry is "increasing efforts to find new tactics to get shoppers to open their wallets more.”

It’s a good time to help your clients double-check their savings disciplines, while reminding them that there are many strong influences at work– conscious and subliminal – to undermine them. Part of the reason central banks around the world have implemented ultra-low interest rates is to discourage saving and encourage consumption. It reflects an unusual environment in which policymakers may be starting to lose control of monetary policy – all the more reason for clients to save more!

Instant Insights /

It's time to help clients double-check their savings discipline

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