OC_Boston_Bay_IHB
New member
This articls lends support to the thesis around large centers of high paying professional jobs.
Money & Investing
Best Cities For Savings
Kurt Badenhausen 12.08.07, 3:50 PM ET
For two years, we have been hearing about the negative savings rate in this country. Americans spend more than we make, so the chorus goes. The government reported that the personal savings rate turned negative in 2005 for the first time since the Great Depression. Things were worse in 2006.
It's not true. The Bureau of Economic Analysis recently revised the 2005 rate from negative 0.5% to positive 0.5% and the 2006 rate from negative 1.1% to positive 0.4%. The revisions did not get nearly the fanfare that the original reports of a negative savings rate garnered.
Click here for the best ETFs to buy now ? in Forbes ETF Advisor.
Of course a savings rate of 0.4% is nothing to crow about. Basically we saved 40 cents for every $100 in income in 2006. The rate was 12% 25 years ago and is still double digits in places like France and Germany.
"The U.S. as a whole is not doing very well saving money," says Sophie Beckman, financial planning specialist at investment brokerage A.G. Edwards, a unit of Wachovia (nyse: WB - news - people ).
There are, however, some cities where residents are doing a much better job than others building their wealth. To gauge who is doing the best job, A.G. Edwards released its third annual Nest Egg Index, which ranks the top 500 metro areas based on their residents' investing and personal savings habits.
Los Alamos, N.M., scored the top spot for the second year in a row. The birthplace of the atomic bomb has a big lead over second-ranked San Jose, Calif. Los Alamos amazingly had the highest rating in the country for five of the 12 categories that A.G. Edwards studied, including 401(k) plan participation, household income, net worth, pension or other retirement plan participation and savings propensity. A big dose of credit must go to the Los Alamos National Laboratory, which is one of the largest employers in New Mexico and is packed with high-paying jobs for scientists and engineers.
The Nest Egg Index examined the 938 metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas in this country (only the top 500 were ranked). While the personal savings rate does not take into account asset appreciation, the Nest Egg Index does by looking at net worths and home values. Over half of a city's ranking is based on its performance in four categories: investing propensity, savings propensity, 401(k) plan participation and pension plan participation. The remaining criteria that make up the Index include cost of living, credit card debt, employment rates, home ownership, household incomes and mortgage balances.
Moving up one spot his year was San Jose, home base to tech giants like Cisco Systems (nasdaq: CSCO - news - people ), eBay (nasdaq: EBAY - news - people ) and Intel (nasdaq: INTC - news - people ). San Jose ranked first in the U.S. when it came to housing values and personal credit card debt. On the negative side: With those pricy homes come the highest mortgage values in the country.
The biggest gainer in the top 10 was San Francisco, which moved up to fifth from ninth last year. San Fran, the corporate home for Gap (nyse: GPS - news - people ), McKesson (nyse: MCK - news - people ) and Wells Fargo (nyse: WFC - news - people ), benefited from improved showings in 401(k) and pension plan participation as well as cost of living (albeit still one of the highest costs in the country).
There were several common themes among the top-ranked places, including low credit card debt levels. Of the top 20 ranked metro areas, 19 ranked better than the national average when it came to personal debt (only Edwards, Colo., ranked in the bottom half). All 20 ranked above average when it came to savings and investing propensity.
Most of the country?s biggest metro areas scored poorly on the Nest Egg Index. Of the 10 largest metros, only Washington, D.C. ranked in the top 50, thanks to a strong showing on housing values, investing propensity and 401(k) participation. The biggest deterrent for big city residents to building their nest eggs are high costs of living. Only Houston and Atlanta have costs of living below the national average according to A.G. Edwards.
East Coast states dominate A.G. Edwards' state-by-state Nest Egg ranking. Six of the top seven states are on the East Coast led by Connecticut in the top spot. The Nutmeg State was best in the country when it came to 401(k) plan participation and investing propensity. The biggest gainer among the states was New York, which clocked in at the 29th spot, up from 38th the prior year. New York benefited from increasing home values and 401(k) participation as well as declining debt levels.
Building a nest egg continues to be a challenge for many Americans. Pension plans are on the wane as more than 100,000 single-employer defined benefit plans with 7.5 million participants have terminated over the past 20 years, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. A.G. Edwards found in a survey that only 62% of adults say they or someone in their household has a retirement plan through an employer or financial institution. If you are among the 38% without a plan, the consensus among financial planner is start one now.
Or you could always move to Los Alamos
Money & Investing
Best Cities For Savings
Kurt Badenhausen 12.08.07, 3:50 PM ET
For two years, we have been hearing about the negative savings rate in this country. Americans spend more than we make, so the chorus goes. The government reported that the personal savings rate turned negative in 2005 for the first time since the Great Depression. Things were worse in 2006.
It's not true. The Bureau of Economic Analysis recently revised the 2005 rate from negative 0.5% to positive 0.5% and the 2006 rate from negative 1.1% to positive 0.4%. The revisions did not get nearly the fanfare that the original reports of a negative savings rate garnered.
Click here for the best ETFs to buy now ? in Forbes ETF Advisor.
Of course a savings rate of 0.4% is nothing to crow about. Basically we saved 40 cents for every $100 in income in 2006. The rate was 12% 25 years ago and is still double digits in places like France and Germany.
"The U.S. as a whole is not doing very well saving money," says Sophie Beckman, financial planning specialist at investment brokerage A.G. Edwards, a unit of Wachovia (nyse: WB - news - people ).
There are, however, some cities where residents are doing a much better job than others building their wealth. To gauge who is doing the best job, A.G. Edwards released its third annual Nest Egg Index, which ranks the top 500 metro areas based on their residents' investing and personal savings habits.
Los Alamos, N.M., scored the top spot for the second year in a row. The birthplace of the atomic bomb has a big lead over second-ranked San Jose, Calif. Los Alamos amazingly had the highest rating in the country for five of the 12 categories that A.G. Edwards studied, including 401(k) plan participation, household income, net worth, pension or other retirement plan participation and savings propensity. A big dose of credit must go to the Los Alamos National Laboratory, which is one of the largest employers in New Mexico and is packed with high-paying jobs for scientists and engineers.
The Nest Egg Index examined the 938 metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas in this country (only the top 500 were ranked). While the personal savings rate does not take into account asset appreciation, the Nest Egg Index does by looking at net worths and home values. Over half of a city's ranking is based on its performance in four categories: investing propensity, savings propensity, 401(k) plan participation and pension plan participation. The remaining criteria that make up the Index include cost of living, credit card debt, employment rates, home ownership, household incomes and mortgage balances.
Moving up one spot his year was San Jose, home base to tech giants like Cisco Systems (nasdaq: CSCO - news - people ), eBay (nasdaq: EBAY - news - people ) and Intel (nasdaq: INTC - news - people ). San Jose ranked first in the U.S. when it came to housing values and personal credit card debt. On the negative side: With those pricy homes come the highest mortgage values in the country.
The biggest gainer in the top 10 was San Francisco, which moved up to fifth from ninth last year. San Fran, the corporate home for Gap (nyse: GPS - news - people ), McKesson (nyse: MCK - news - people ) and Wells Fargo (nyse: WFC - news - people ), benefited from improved showings in 401(k) and pension plan participation as well as cost of living (albeit still one of the highest costs in the country).
There were several common themes among the top-ranked places, including low credit card debt levels. Of the top 20 ranked metro areas, 19 ranked better than the national average when it came to personal debt (only Edwards, Colo., ranked in the bottom half). All 20 ranked above average when it came to savings and investing propensity.
Most of the country?s biggest metro areas scored poorly on the Nest Egg Index. Of the 10 largest metros, only Washington, D.C. ranked in the top 50, thanks to a strong showing on housing values, investing propensity and 401(k) participation. The biggest deterrent for big city residents to building their nest eggs are high costs of living. Only Houston and Atlanta have costs of living below the national average according to A.G. Edwards.
East Coast states dominate A.G. Edwards' state-by-state Nest Egg ranking. Six of the top seven states are on the East Coast led by Connecticut in the top spot. The Nutmeg State was best in the country when it came to 401(k) plan participation and investing propensity. The biggest gainer among the states was New York, which clocked in at the 29th spot, up from 38th the prior year. New York benefited from increasing home values and 401(k) participation as well as declining debt levels.
Building a nest egg continues to be a challenge for many Americans. Pension plans are on the wane as more than 100,000 single-employer defined benefit plans with 7.5 million participants have terminated over the past 20 years, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. A.G. Edwards found in a survey that only 62% of adults say they or someone in their household has a retirement plan through an employer or financial institution. If you are among the 38% without a plan, the consensus among financial planner is start one now.
Or you could always move to Los Alamos
