Editorial: Frugality--A New Normal for Developed World Consumers

          Ron
        Robins
          MBA

       Founder
      & Analyst

Media Coverage of
Investing for the Soul

Wall Street Journal
MarketWatch
BNN (Business News Network)
The Financial Post
Rogers Television's Money Line
CBC One's Metro Morning
680 News Radio
Environmental News Network
The Catholic Register
More...

Editorials

Shareholder Values

"70% increase since 2007 in the number of investors capitalizing on environmental trends [and] 54% of investors plan to invest in environmental technology over the next year."
-- Allianz Global
Investors
(USA) February 2010

"Canadian investors are generally favourable towards SRI. A third (32%) said they are 'very' or 'somewhat' interested. [Another] 55 per cent indicated that they would consider SRI if the return was 'as good or better' than other investments... The majority of investors surveyed view SRIs as 'futuristic' (78%) and 'a win-win for the individual and society' (77%)."
-- Ipsos Reid/
Standard Life
(Canada) October 2011

"European HNWI [High Net Worth Individuals] Sustainable Investment market... approximately €729 billion, representing an average of about 11% of European HNWIs’ portfolios as of December 31, 2009. This is a growth rate of 35% over the two-year period since the data was previously collected."
-- Eurosif
(EU) September 2010

February 3, 2011

Frugality: A New Normal
for Developed World Consumers

By Ron Robins, Founder & Analyst - Investing for the Soul

US media recently rejoiced in the fact that retail sales were moving higher. But a reality check is needed. Firstly, the purported gains in US retail sales are illusory when adjusted for real inflation rates, reports respected economist-statistician John Williams at shadowstats.com. Secondly, much of the so-called increase in retail sales is accounted for by a small segment of US consumers: the rich. They are spending more as they are benefiting from higher stock prices, says Michael Feroli, who is chief US economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co, and quoted in a January 18 Bloomberg article.

But the prospect of US-inflation-adjusted retail sales continuing higher for more than a few months or a year or two is improbable. To begin with, for Americans, the Europeans and Japanese, amongst others, there is the increasing realisation of much higher taxes required at every level to avoid gutting key federal, state/provincial and local government programmes. The underfunding of government medical, social assistance and pension programmes is so large in most developed countries that even with major cuts to them, higher taxes will be needed. (In the US, most members of President Obama’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform came to the same conclusion.) Thus, higher taxes means after-tax incomes fall and so does spending.

However, for 2011/12 Americans can enjoy some relief in federal taxes due to the extension of the Bush-era personal income tax reductions that were included in the $900 billion stimulus bill passed in December 2010. But based on past results of such efforts, it will only add many hundreds of billions to the US federal debt—which will mean even higher taxes to pay in years to come.

Continuing unsustainable deficits and debt in almost all developed countries will greatly restrain their economic growth for many years. Perhaps the most respected and quoted study on this topic is by professors Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth S. Rogoff. In their 2008 study, This Time is Different: A Panoramic View of Eight Centuries of Financial Crises, they found that once government debt reaches 90 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), economies slow considerably for many years thereafter. By the end of 2010 the US Federal debt at about $14 trillion was flying past that 90 per cent threshold and could exceed 100 per cent this year and continue to rise substantially for years to come.

As forbidding as professors Reinhart and Rogoff’s study is for the welfare of the developed world, it might be even worse. It is probable that most of the countries with debt crises in their study had young and growing populations. That is not the situation today where, uniquely in history, we have fast-aging populations, relatively fewer able-bodied people working, and in some developed countries, actually declining populations. Climbing out of the gigantic debt vortex will tax developed countries in ways that no previously indebted societies have ever had to deal with.

Aging itself also has a dramatic effect on consumption. As people move toward retirement in their fifties, they save more, and in retirement, they spend their savings. The huge baby-boom generation that has fuelled massive US consumer spending for the past twenty years is now moving into retirement and therefore becoming more frugal, further slowing down consumption for decades to come.

Adding to the frugality of developed world consumers will be the realisation of other factors. For instance, Americans now understand that the value of their primary asset, their home, may not rise to anything like the value they were counting on. And in many developed countries numerous private, state, and municipal pension funds are significantly underfunded and might be unable to provide the pension income that their contributors had previously expected.

Additionally, continually rising prices will further enforce frugality among developed world consumers as incomes might not keep up with inflation. Citing the US as an example, in 2007—and therefore prior to the recession—typical household income adjusted for inflation was lower than it was in 1999, according to the US Census Bureau. With no income gains between 1999 and 2007, US households increased their debt levels enormously to fund their spending. Now with highly elevated debt-to-income ratios US families are unlikely, even unable, to travel that road again.

Barring a global recession that runs for an extended period, the cost of food and energy are projected to rise considerably as billions more people rise into the global consumer economy. Also, though studiously avoided by the political and economic elites for fear of public discontent, is the reality that prices may well rise even faster due to the gradual inclusion of costs related to environmental degradation and depletion of resources (i.e. carbon taxes) as the effects of climate change mount.

Of course I have left until last one of the biggest reasons for frugality today. It is the fear of unemployment. Throughout the developed world, unemployment levels are excessively high. Until they come down, many people will fear to spend and instead, save more. Unfortunately, given the above conditions and those explained in many of my previous posts, there is little likelihood of big employment gains throughout the developed world any time soon.

Other than for relatively brief periods, there is not much chance of marked increases in consumer spending in most developed countries in the decade ahead. Their rapidly aging populations are moving from their high spending years to ones of saving, then to frugality in their retirement years. Additionally, developed world consumers will be: severely challenged financially due to increased taxation; uncertainty in the value of their assets; the need to promote personal savings as government medical, pension and social programmes are restricted or eliminated; rising living costs likely unmatched by income gains; and the fear of unemployment.

Just like their predecessors of a bygone era, frugality is becoming the new normal for most developed world consumers.

Ethical Investing Workshops | Services For Investors & Investment Professionals | Who Should Invest My Money?

Press Kit | Press Releases | Editorials | Spiritual Quotes Related to Money

Events | Privacy Policy | Contact Us | Free Newsletter/Unsubscribe| Sitemap

Disclaimer: This website does not make investment recommendations. Nothing in this site should be interpreted as a recommendation or solicitation to buy/sell any securities or investments. Investing for the Soul is a source of general information and resources for spiritual investing, ethical investing, and socially responsible investing (SRI). Investors should consider their actions thoroughly and consult their financial advisers and other professionals, prior to taking any investment action. This website does not necessarily agree with the opinions expressed in articles on its pages or offered on the web pages to which it might be linked. Such opinions are the responsibility of the writers themselves. Furthermore, this site does not offer or provide any warranties, representations, guarantees, implied or otherwise, as to the accuracy, legality, copyright compliance, timeliness or usefulness of the information, materials or services on this, or other sites, to which it is linked. Also, Mr. Ron Robins is not an investment advisor, nor is he licensed with any professional investment related body, and thus is not able to, nor does he make, any investment recommendations.

Investing for the Soul is a registered business name in the Province of Ontario, Canada.

Frugality: A New Normal for Developed World Consumers

Frugality: A New Normal
for Developed World Consumers