It’s a good example of how the environment can make it rational or not to delay gratification. And when things do become more stable, it takes a long time to trust enough that delaying gratification will pay off. And it’s likely also possible to manipulate people into acting one way or the other when it’s not to their benefit - that’s what advertising is for.
Actually it has also been hard to instill the idea of savings with the ultra low interest rates of the last 20 years. It hasn’t exactly been exciting for the kids to see their savings earn nearly nothing. When they were younger, I actually threw them extra money into their accounts to encourage savings.
Thankfully they both seemed to have picked up on it. My son was the tougher one.
I’m going to help my son with some investments the next time the market either plummets or has a significant correction. My daughter might also be interested.
You don’t save these days, you invest. When I was a kid, Consumer Reports had a kid-targeted magazine (called Zillions, because of course that somehow made it cool) with one issue that simulated (probably off historical data) rate of return of $500 in various asset classes. A single stock, a savings account, a CD of a specific length, and I think something else. A bond of some sort, maybe. The stock bounced all over the place in value, and the rest made whatever the interest rates were in like 1990. I think the point was supposed to be high-risk, high-reward and if you really want to save money for a fancy new computer or whatever to get Mom and Dad to set up a savings account for you or maybe buy a CD. Sure, you wouldn’t get as much as you could in the market (costs of market transactions in 1990 aside, which weren’t brought up) but you won’t lose money and maybe get $15 or $20 a year.
Thirty years later and I’m putting a good chunk of my post-tax savings into a mix of individual stocks and ETFs, even for money I want to pretty much hold value, because there’s nowhere else to put it and even beat inflation. Even a moderate bet in the markets with an index fund is better than my savings account and the dividend actually pays more. And now that we’re in a world of zero fee commissions, the only cost to me jumping around in the market and taking assets in and out is what the IRS wants.