Mixed bag: More young savers and shaking moochers

Well, I'm finally back from vacation and very refreshed. I'll probably write a quick post about vacation tomorrow, but today, I came across an article with a few interesting takeaways:

Although the article is titled "Young strivers see slacker friends as costly", the article has a few interesting takeaways other than how to lose your loser friends when you are raking in the dough. First, from a Scottrade survey, it seems as if younger folks may be thinking more about saving earlier:

Scottrade’s recent 2007 American Retirement Study found an astonishing level of financial maturity for its youngest adult respondents."While 59 percent of 18-24 year-olds said they saved for retirement in 2006, that number jumped to 89 percent for those who said they planned to save in 2007. Of 25-to-34-year olds, 70 percent saved in 2006 while 85 percent indicated they will save in 2007," says Chris Moloney, chief marketing officer for the St. Louis-based broker. "Previously, people waited for assets to accumulate before they began thinking about their financial futures and retirement. With the Internet and the wealth of information available to them, many are starting younger," he adds.

Pretty good to see this data. Whether they actually follow through on actually saving is another matter, but it's a start. The other quote of interest is the following one that touches on being social with friends who have a lot more or a lot less money than you do. It's usually a tricky situation to navigate, and I tend to "go humble" when faced with these situations (i.e., if you're having dinner with a friend who makes $40,000/yr, pick a low-priced restaurant, not the latest restaurant where you'll easily spend $80/person):

"When a teacher and a stockbroker are old college friends, for instance, you find their dramatically different financial resources often create tension," says Draut. "The stockbroker may resent the teacher expecting her to treat her to dinner, but the teacher may be equally resentful her friend chose such an expensive restaurant."

Such inequities create social awkwardness, yet little conversation, observes Draut. "It is hard to be the friend who says, 'I can’t come along because the restaurant is too expensive for me.' But we need to make it OK to start having these conversations; to start saying, ‘I cannot afford it.’ "

And conversely: "I cannot keep floating you."

You have to love that last quote. I've certainly been guilty of treating less fortunate friends in the past, but I've learned that lesson. Interesting discussion -- just imagine what happens between a handful of retired 80 year olds after indulging in the surf-and-turf early-bird special. :)