If there’s one thing Americans love doing, it’s spending money.
You may have seen earlier this week that online retail giant Amazon held its annual “Prime Day” event. Over the course of two days, the retailer slashed prices on thousands of items, luring in customers with promised savings across many different categories.
To the surprise of no one, it paid off for Amazon.
According to early reports, this year’s Prime Day event was bigger than last year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday events combined. It’s hard to know exactly how much money was made because Amazon doesn’t release the results of public shopping days. Even so, industry analysts estimated beforehand that this year’s event could pull in around $5 billion.
Like I said, Americans love to shop.
And they do it regardless of the debt that often comes along with it.
In the face of record sales for Amazon and record stock market highs for the U.S. economy, consumer debt in the United States has continued a steady climb as well. At around $14 trillion as of the first quarter of the year, the number is now higher than it was in the face of the 2008 recession. This includes mortgage debt, student loans, and yes, credit card debt.
And despite increasing signals that things may change sooner rather than later, this is a trend that is only going to continue.
So What’s the Problem?
Having debt is one thing, but not having any money in savings is another entirely. And that’s a reality that many debt-burdened Americans face.
According to recent data, nearly a third of adults in the U.S. have nothing in emergency savings. About a quarter of people have something put away, but not enough to cover at least three months’ worth of living expenses. This news comes despite the fact that many people believe the economy is in good shape.
And if that weren’t bad enough, things are just as dire when it comes to retirement savings.
Recent Federal Reserve data shows that 42% of people between the ages of 18 and 29 have nothing saved for retirement. Those numbers drop as the ages increase, but they’re still in the double digits even at the oldest ages. Likewise, a large number of people who do have retirement savings have expressed concern that those savings won’t be enough for when they finally reach retirement.
The data paints a grim picture for the current financial situation of many people. It also makes it perfectly clear that those same people are unprepared for when, not if, things take a downturn.
Finding a Safe Haven in the Coming Storm
Those with little to no savings may not find themselves worrying now. After all, they perceive the economy to be in good shape as the news headlines continue harping on about ‘record highs.’
But that can change in an instant. We’ve mentioned many times in these pages that the country is long overdue for a recession. Countries all over the world are learning that their debt situations aren’t sustainable and are beginning to feel the consequences of that.
Likewise, the so-called ‘Smart Money’ has seen this coming for some time, and is moving holdings into places that will be able to weather the coming storm.
All while everyone else carries on with life as usual. They don’t realize that storm will absolutely devastate what little savings they have until it’s too late.
If you look around, you see that the price of gold, the oldest and most reliable of safe havens, is climbing. In the face of what the world’s economies are experiencing, that isn’t a coincidence.
Mr. James Dines knows all about it, and has the information you need to make sure you’re ready when it comes.
Keep your eyes open,
Ryan Stancil
Contributing Editor, Outsider Club
