Update: Why Our Wealth is so Depressing
Last summer I read a story by Michelle Singletary who writes a column called “The Color of Money” for the Washington Post. The story fell in line with a theme in our economies that has worried me for some time. I did some research and initially published this article in the summer of 2018. This month, October 2019, I updated the numbers. The problem hasn't abated and needs as much global attention as ever. If this story resonates with you please share it liberally. Here is the story, updated with current figures.
Michelle and her husband came from meager means, were first generation college graduates and value education as a means to step up economically. This fall their three children will all be attending college debt free. Read about the discipline and planning that allowed them to do this. How We Sent Our Children to College Debt-Free. Michelle only used the word “sacrifice” once in the article and you’ll be surprised by its context.
I am sharing the Singletary’s story because indebtedness is growing at an unsustainable rate across all of our economies: federal, state, local, corporately and in households. Their lesson is one we can all learn from.
Here are some facts from the St. Louis Federal Reserve bank and other sources:
1 The St. Louis Fed actually says US debt is $73 trillion, $20 trillion higher than the total above. Pension and other financial promises make up most of the difference. I chose not to fully reconcile these details. $53 trillion was more than enough to grab my attention.
2 2019 estimated at 2% growth from 2018, the most recently figures published by the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank
The graph above highlights the debt/income gap that has grown over the past 19 years. The three "bad" statistics, Total Debt, Debt Per Employed Worker and Years to Pay Debt are all increasing at rates much greater than the "good" statistic, Medium Household Income.
Since 2000, indebtedness per employed worker has increased nearly 3.5 times faster than income per household.
Why is that bad?
First, income is the primary means of debt repayment. If debt growth continues to dwarf income growth, our ability to pay off our debts will dissolve into bankruptcy or insolvency.
Second, the current prosperity we are enjoying is being borrowed from our children and grandchildren. There are two outcomes our current addiction to debt will leave to our heirs:
- A large share of the growing public debt will be inherited by our heirs.
- If the growth rates aren’t reversed there will be significant social and political implications, in addition to the economic consequences.
No single economy in the United States is absolved from this heist. We are robbing our heirs of their economic freedom and independence. If these trends continue, the day of reckoning won’t simply be a lower standard of living for our heirs. The social growth and political stability we have enjoyed since our country was founded will also be in jeopardy.
Those may seem like harsh words but looking at the facts, I can’t think of any polite way to describe the legacy today’s adults are leaving future generations.
I don’t have a silver bullet for this problem. But I do know professionals trained in finance can help describe the situation, assist people in understanding its long-term implications and begin a learning process that will help us collectively become more responsible and charitable in the legacy we leave our heirs.
Here are some ideas to start the process:
- Teach a friend how to prepare and manage a budget.
- Help a young household learn how to prepare their personal financial forecast.
- Pass on the instructional tips from Singletary’s article to friends and colleagues.
- Educate your employees on how to maximize their 401K benefits and their retirement benefits in general.
- Educate a politician on the perils of too much debt.
- Evangelize about the benefits of using sound financial principles to improve our economies in the future.
Sharing a needle’s eye portion of your financial knowledge with family, friends, colleagues and politicians will render huge benefits to our economies. This same knowledge will contribute to the livelihood of future generations and a legacy we will be proud of.
If you think I have been too severe, please let me know why.
If you have solutions to our debt addiction, please send them along.
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