摘要：Families save for a wide variety of reasons, including iden-
tifable reasons such as education and retirement and others
they can’t even articulate, such as for unforeseeable circum-
stances or future dreams. Defnitions of what constitutes
“enough”—enough material possessions, enough services,
enough savings—vary widely from person to person. In this
messy world, where companies never exhort us to “spend
less,” saving is hard work, and it is no surprise that household
saving rates are low.
1
In 2007, the United States personal
savings rate dipped to 0 percent—a ffty year record low.
2
While some debate the proper measurement of the saving
rate, there is little dispute that large shares of Americans
have saved very little for a long period.
3
In 2004, 10 per-
cent of households had less than $100 in fnancial assets.
4
Large shares of the population are “asset poor,” lacking suf-
fcient fnancial assets to survive at the poverty line for three
months.
5
Over the last ten years, the asset poverty rate has
generally been well in excess of 25 percent of the full popu-
lation, and about 60 percent for blacks and for households
headed by someone without a high school diploma.
6
Lack of
savings may make it more diffcult for families to respond to
emergencies, to invest in education and business opportuni-
ties, and to retire comfortably.
