In an annual survey of college freshmen released in January 2007, almost 75 percent of the students interviewed said they thought it was very important, or even essential, to be “very well-off financially.” That compares to 62 percent who gave the same response in 1980 and to 42 percent who did so in 1966.
For many Americans, the desire to live like the “very well-off financially” has led to excessive spending on material things, resulting in a savings rate of minus 1 percent...
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