Spending and saving. This is the time when people have decided to save more money to the detriment of the national economy. If you are looking out for your own financial interest, is it bad when you finally decide to save?

If everyone were given a million dollars today, not everyone would spend the money in the same way, there might be some who would spend their money right away or save it.

Now that times are tough and job losses are announced in the news daily, people are saving, just in case they don’t have a job in the future.

Since consumer spending is about two thirds of our economy when more people are out of work (not including the ones who aren’t included in the statistics) or cutting back on spending then our economy suffers. If you knew that you would have a reasonable income and had to pay for only what you could afford, then the economy would look different.

In months, how will our economy look? When the unemployed, become employed, will they change their ways? Stories from people around the world pretty much say the same thing. Those who had savings are trying to live off of that until they can get a new job. This was actual savings, not credit cards or home equity, but actual liquid cash from a bank or other liquid asset.

The Great Depression forced people to make changes. Now the recession is making people change as well. Instead of spending on mindless purchases, there is more thought going into spending and personal outlays. I have tightened my wallet and realized that I haven’t bought as much “junk” as I used to because I am watching my spending. This doesn’t mean that I avoid spending money all together but I am more thoughtful about what I spend and whether or not something is really a necessity.

If you save for something and then decide that you don’t want it or don’t’ use it for a few months, you have a hard time getting you money back. If you save your money and don’t decide to spend it, you still have it.