How Wage Stagnation Has Turned $400 Surprises Into Financial Crises
On this Motley Fool Answers episode, Robert Brokamp is on his own to interview Rachel Schneider, a senior VP at the Center for Financial Services Innovation, and professor Jonathan Morduch, who teaches public policy and economics at NYU, about their new book, The Financial Diaries: How American Families Cope in a World of Uncertainty. For the study behind the book, their team tracked essentially everything about the finances of 235 families in five states for a full year, giving them deep insights into where we are succeeding, where we're not, and what obstacles are most commonly in our paths.
One macroeconomic roadblock we face is that average wages have remained relatively flat for a long time, while costs for things like healthcare, education, and housing have soared. Some might say the response to that by cash-strapped families should be increased frugality -- but in this segment, Schneider and Morduch explain why that simple answer often doesn't solve their financial problems and can even make them worse.
A full transcript follows the video.
Source: Fool.com
