Is Your Family Prepared for Financial Hardships?

I read over the weekend a Bloomberg Article that discussed the job market and Washington's plans to fix it.  To quote a portion of the article,

"The average American is ill-prepared for a lengthy spell of unemployment, said van Dijk. Households reduced their savings in the last expansion -- putting aside less than 1 percent of disposable income in 2005-2006, compared with an average 6 percent the previous 30 years -- and thus didn’t have much in reserve."

Not being financially prepared is a huge issue for most Americans today. 

We've been taught that debt is good and that we "deserve" to live a better life.  Lack of financial education and this "I deserve it" mentality has most of us in a deep, deep hole.  A deep hole coupled with the poor economy is leading to disaster for many.

My wife and I found ourselves in a major financial hole a number of years ago, but due to the teachings of Dave Ramsay and his book, Financial Peace, we are better off today than ever before.  The process we've followed requires patience and perseverance, but success is assured if you're willing to get serious.  Here's a post from our PizzaForADream.com blog called Are Your Finances Upside Down? that explains the steps we took in order to put ourselves on a solid financial foundation.

Comments

[Always On Watch]

This household hasn't been able to put much aside the past several years -- thanks to the meteoric rise of real estate taxes in Northern Virginia.

But before that, we socked away as much as possible.

Good thing! We've had to tap those savings since my husband lost his job in January 2008.