******** are The New Assets

I was reading an article on Time Magazine not too long ago, and it really sparked my interest when I read that particular line mentioned above in the title. I purposely left the first part out because I wanted to start a little game. Call it a mini-test to see where people stand in today's economy. OK, let us begin.

Which of the following sentences seems correct to you:

A) Savings are the new Assets

B) 401K's (investments) are the new Assets

C) Jobs are the new Assets

D) None of the above

Now, let us find out what the correct answer is, based on recent research. And the answer is??? well. I won't make it that simple to figure out just yet. Let us look to see what each answer determines about our current mental process.

If you answered A) Savings are the new Assets. Sorry, but you are wrong this time. That is not to say that savings are not a wonderful thing to have. But in recent years, the number of people putting away a % of their income into savings has declined dramatically, so much so that in 2005 it finally went negative. That just meant we spent more than we saved thanks to things like credit cards and equity lines of credit.

If you answered B) 401K's (investments) are the new Assets. Sorry once again you are in the % of the population who treated their investment assets as their most valuable asset. While there is no denying that investments are a valuable asset in any portfolio, research shows that the money a typical family had in the stock market jumped from 28% in 1989 to 53% in 2007. And the percentage of families that were in the stock market jumped from 32% to 51%. Sadly as 2008 proved, having an unbalanced portfolio led to many people in this category lose upwards of 40% and higher on their investments.

Finally, if you answered C) Jobs are the new Assets. Well Congratulations! Now, why do you think jobs are the new assets? what have we realized recently that have made us think differently about what we do, how we work and how much we save?. Well let me explain. As of recently, many people started looking at their jobs in a completely different manner because many of us realized that having a JOB became our sole financial lifeline. When stocks were dropping, the housing market crashing and savings were diminishing, our Jobs were the only thing that kept many of us afloat because it continue to bring a steady income. Like Time Magazine elegantly puts it "When you have one chip left, you are much less likely to put it on the table" Many of us truly understand the value of having a job specially now that the unemployment rate has hit so many other less fortunate than yourself.

I hope that many more people understand the value of what it is they do and how important their jobs really are to surviving through this economical crisis. Because more often times than not, we do not realize the true value of what we have, until we lose it.