Please note my sarcasm in my headline.  Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen says the ‘Great Recession’ showed that a large number of American families are "extraordinarily vulnerable" to financial setbacks because they have few assets to fall back on. Really? This is news? But I guess maybe if you are Chairperson of the Federal Reserve you are probably a bit disconnected with the realities for so many of us ‘common folk’. 

She says a Fed survey finds that an unexpected expense of just $400 would force the majority of American families to borrow money, sell something or simply not pay. In a speech delivered by video to a Washington conference, Yellen says there is a critical need to encourage people to take small steps to boost their savings.

Dear Chairperson Yellen, I have to say it is not so much that we need to be encouraged to save, we need to have the wiggle room to make that decision. But when every month is ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’, saving is not even on the table and the simple, beautiful act of breaking even is a joyous moment.  There is more that need to be done that encouraging people to save a few bucks in their piggy banks.

So I have to ask has anyone asked these people who are being encouraged to take the small steps to boost their savings the ‘WHY’?  What are they don’t doing it?  Unless you ask the people directly affected by a problem you will never get a answer that just might work.

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