How to Money · Friday, July 31, 2026
The hosts critique the common financial advice to save 10% of income, calling it too low a bar that can become a ceiling. They argue that while better than average savings, this percentage is insufficient for achieving significant financial goals like purchasing a home or securing retirement, encouraging listeners to aim for higher savings rates.
“Save ten percent of your income. This is advice I even heard as a little wei one growing up, and you might be asking, like, why is this crappy advice? This sounds smart, and it kind of is. It's certainly better than what the average American is saving, which is it's somewhere in the three percent range. Yeah, And so if you're in that position, if you aren't currently even saving a tenth of your income, then yes, this is a good goal to strive for.”
“But we don't want how the money listeners out there to be the average American. We don't want you to stay there. We don't want that ten percent basically to be a ceiling for you because sometimes mainstream financial advice that actually I think they set the bar too low. And if you stick with this incredibly basic framework of saving even as your your income increases over the years, you're gonna find it hard to make progress towards those bigger financial goals.”
“And we think people should be seeking to save a lot more of their money, and other cultures do this. Well, what is it in Japan? The average person saves something like in the thirty percent range of their salary.”