In the United States, Germany, France, and other countries, it is customary to save money for the future. And only in our country, almost no one does this or pretends to postpone it.
The whole of Europe saves money "for later", which means either old age, unemployment, or both at the same time. A recent study by the marketing company GFK Group describes in detail in which countries they save on what. For example, four out of 10 Dutch and Austrians always buy the cheapest food. And if hard times come, Italians limit themselves to clothes, the British go to pubs less, and Germans refuse large purchases like a washing machine, but everyone continues to save money for the future.
The typical European transfers a sizeable sum to a separate savings account on the day of payment and handles the remaining funds with extra care and diligence. This doesn't imply that he switches to bread and water or skips going on vacation; it just means that you should cut costs wherever you can. The reasoning seems clear-cut. Of course, high-quality footwear, a warm jacket, and a secure vehicle are essential. But if you can sit on the beach, why pay more for the view when booking a hotel? Why pay 4 UAH for bread when you can get it for 3 UAH in "Auchan"? Why take the minibus when the bus fare is one hryvnia less?
Theoretically, I understand this, and in my mind's recesses, I even have admiration for someone who, making $10,000 per month, spends an extra 15 minutes in a 20-degree frost to avoid taking public transportation (and there is no need to wriggle now; they say this does not happen; it very much happens, but not in our country). However, I think he is abnormal when I see a 35-year-old extremely wealthy man skip one marshrutka after another to save 15 cents for a denture he will require in 40 years.
It seems that in this sense, our Western man does not understand. and not because we are struggling to catch up with the sense of satisfaction missed in the Soviet years from consuming everything and everything. And not even because, as is commonly believed, we do not have a culture of austerity. We have it; it's just that it's completely different.
Not so long ago, a survey was conducted to understand what Ukrainians are saving on today. Participants in the study were asked only one question: "How would your expenses change if your income decreased by 2 times? You'd spend less on ...."
It turned out that every fifth inhabitant of our country does not understand how to save on something. And it's not that he lives below the poverty line and just physically can't cut back on his spending: most of the undecided are people with more or less average incomes. They just don't know what it's like to save.
It sounds silly, but if you think about it, it is. Saving means not spending money. That is, not just to cut one item of expenditure in favor of another (we are just good at this); as a result of the savings, the funds should appear exactly as free funds. So saving is putting aside some amount of your income for that "later." Not for a car, a vacation in the Maldives, or celebrating another anniversary, but for abstract spending in the abstract future.
International research company TGI Global calculated that in the US and in the UK, every second person postpones for old age. In France, almost 62% of residents save for future needs. In our country, there are only 17% of them.
We have become adept at utilizing credit. It is understandable and seems fair to spend money on your dream car, take your girlfriend on a romantic vacation, or even send your kid to a reputable university. It is still possible to start saving money for a summer vacation in January. But to sacrifice ourselves now in order to reap some fictitious rewards later seems crazy to us. It's possible that won't happen. A car at a crosswalk for pedestrians or an icicle on the head. And perhaps there will be another economic crisis in the future, during which all the money saved will burn, vanish, or lose value.
About one in four people worldwide think they don't know how to save money. But while we are not at all concerned and think that this is how it should be, the Americans, the British, and the French are very upset about this.
I believe I know what the trick is. Of course, neither ours nor their futures are particularly concrete. A Berliner, for example, needs to save for a new apartment for three years; a New Yorker, about six; and a Ukrainian, more than twenty, according to the largest international real estate agency, Gordon Rock.