What keeps you from saving?

Very good article.  I have been saving since I've been working.  I put 15% of my income into my 401K (this happened over a period of years, incrimentally it increasing at each raise).  I fund my emergency fund contantly - $300 a month right now-automatically deducted, also fund seperate funds for car repairs, annual expenses (home insurance, property tax, car registrations and plates) monthly - easy to do with on-line savings accouts.  These are also automatically deducted.  Windfalls like bonuses, profit sharing, tax refunds, etc. get divided into more accounts - extreme emergencies and travel fund.

I use the local emergency fund for any minor emergencies that come up.  If it builds up too high, I will transfer some of it to another fund.  And I do this on about $50,000 a year (gross, less after taxes, insurance, etc)  At present, I have about $30,000+ that is easily accessible but not too easy!  Yet, my home is paid off, cars paid off, no consumer debt at all.  It can be done, but it takes some discipline. 

I love this statement:

    "One couple I know has zero savings and no emergency fund, and they are regularly late with mortgage and car payments. Yet somehow they have the money for junk food, smartphones and satellite television."

One couple REALLY?!!  IT is the MAJORITY of people sister -not one couple. The vast majority of us -including our federal, state, and local governments. It is a part of our culture to not only live BEYOND our means, but to also cry and blame someone else when we can't make these unreasonable lifestyles affordable. We all want to live like the rich and famous - we just want someone else to foot the bill. So we never save for a rainey day - an event which is bound to happen in everyone's lifetime - but we spend, spend, spend as though we will ALWAYS have that paycheck, no hiccups along the way. Then when the inevitable hiccup comes - we cry and demand "Somebody do something".

So - to answer your question: 

         "Do you skip saving because you can't afford to, or because you don't want to do the hard work of holding yourself accountable? "

WE DON'T WANT TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE -not by you, not byhim, nor her, and certainly not by ourselves!

Wow another insightful article that answers it's own question.

As far as saving-saving, i.e. socking away money in CD's and the like.....well if you do happen to be able to do so don't you all just love the return. Where are we these day's with CD rates? Figure in the almost 0% you get from your bank, then subtract the "true" rate of inflation and just watch those $$'s shrink.

Why should we try to save money when the banks give such abysmal interest rates for savings accounts (one bank in the building where I work offers a whopping .25 - that's point two five - percent) that won't even remotely cover the cost of having an account?

Yes, obviously this story must be mastered by some banks (as usual, hidden agenda) who just love to have our money for free, and then you/ we take the inflation loss, as well as having to pay taxes on that miserly  interest-- except of course 401 K gain/int a, unless you all of a sudden need that money for 3 years of no job, never mind that you pay SS/Medicare of all 401 K first, double if you are self employed, which by the way  are many people these days, remember it is not just the 22 million looking for a job, what about the 100 million, who had a 1-3 year no job the last 10 years, in which case they got set back a decade in recovery efforts.--Never mind new college students looking!

Never mind as well those DJ investors, the Dj is right now only 5 % higher than jan 2001, so do not even try to explain why we must invest, in that period our USA money has lost at least 35 % in value.

Most people are very easily snowed here every day.

Never mind all the big safe government/school/po​lice/ fire/university people, who are always safe, and laugh at the rest of us with their pensions and medical all paid for, and they are a big part of the comments here, since they work in many cases about 1/2- 2/3 of the time an engineer like me flying all over the world has to do, and that my friends need to be changed, that is exactly like the old Soviet Union, only the government types were actually "treated to" tax payer money.--And yet those here make so much money that they even vote Republican, because they think they are rich, and have it made. I have met Garbage "Engineers" right here down in NYC who makes over 100 K a year and everything is paid for, where regular people would get 30-35 K, and they work in NYC 2 hours a day and then they click on for overtime every day, and then because of that they get 80 K a year in pensions later, all paid for by us/subsidized--no regular company would ever do that, that is pathetic!---And that is corrupt!

Based on positive negative comments here on this one I/we can see how many of those free        "loafers" have time to sit here all day!!! ----Yes, I am old  and have seen 2600 food plants and about 3000- universities, being into molecules of all the food developments/design/​testing of what you and animals eat, and retired, just so you can spare those comments, on why I am on here!

But do have som savings for emergency, otherwise invest in producing stuff, anything--they are the only ones currently who actually make money, like Apple, an Microsoft, as well as most food production/utilities​, although slow they do always make stuff, so they are alive.--Forget real estate, unless you are buying and rebuilding and selling.