A very interesting a disturbing trend seems to be emerging. Young people seem to have been conditioned to believe that materialism is extremely important, and that financial success is a birthright. There is nothing wrong with wanting financial success but today’s younger “entitledâ€? generation has it wrong. It appears that youngsters have heard about the Hollywood salary types as well as the high paid executives and athletes and now believe that this is what they want. UCLA came up with its annual survey of college freshman, released last Friday. It […]

We have all been there. We see our neighbor with his new Mercedes S class. We rationalize to our self. “If that schlep has a Mercedes, I should get one tooâ€? What most people do not realize is the Mercedes is taking a huge amount of cash out of Mr. Jones income. He has been successful in perpetuating the myth of trying to look wealthy. Not because he bought the car, but because you bought into it as well. Trying to look wealthy is a mirage. Recent studies have been […]

HSBC Bank has reported some interesting facts in a new survey. The results are that many in the income rich category are not saving. (Income rich is considered a household making $250,000 or more per year) From my experience, most Americans put a much higher emphasis on income rather than wealth. People in this country have been conditioned to spend money now and worry about the future latter. Regardless of your income level, you will have a tendency to spend all that you make and then some unless you make […]

The federal reserve just came up with some sobering statistics of a “wealth gap” which is becoming more pronounced as time goes by. It appears that younger generations may not do as well as their parents generation going forward. This could have some very significant impacts going forward. What is ironic is that the younger generations feel somehow that they are entitled to have as much or more than their parents. Consider the following: The growing divide between the rich and poor in America is more generation gap than class […]