Men: you make less now than they did in 1975

According to an article by Reuters, “According to U.S. Census estimates, the median income for men between 25 and 34 in 2005 was $31,161. In 1975, adjusted for inflation, it was $35,296. The comparable data for female workers was $22,815 in 2005 and $16,247 in 1975.”

It is simply amazing and the implications seem obvious. As time goes by, there are more and more bills that continue to accumulate. Inflation hasn’t stopped, just the amount of money that the average man makes. In this roughly twenty year period, this difference in come has resulted in about 12 percent decline in buying power.

Obviously, as the price of average goods increases over time through inflation, we have the sense that we no longer can afford these goods because of it. But the reality is that you are not likely feeling the effects of inflated prices, instead you are feeling the effects of deflated purchasing power.

Fighting the Problem

The old standbys are the best defense here when it comes to making money stretch. You can refer right here to articles about coupons, budgeting, and deals in order to save money and thereby increase your buying power.

Thinking Long-Term

Of course, the real solution is not contained in any short-term fix in the way of a budget or coupons. Instead, the only way to sufficiently balance the equation between how much purchasing power you have and how much you want to purchase is to decrease one side or increase the other.

Getting More Power, Reducing Your Debt

In order to increase your purchasing power (if you think that is the problem), you will likely want to review our ‘advance your career’ series. If the problem is more in the way of spending, you might consider starting a blog or taking some other step to become accountable for the way you spend your money and accumulate debt.

In the end, the best fix for this is one that can be maintained long-term and many people find that a new job making more money is the best way to handle money troubles long term. But unless there is a constant effort to combat the issue of decreased purchasing power, it is a problem that will recur. And it will remain difficult to combat for many men in the United States. Ongoing maintenance and re-evaluation is key in order to keep a budget, maintain steady progress toward financial goals, and find yourself in a good balance between the amount of money that you spend and the amount of money that you earn.

Beyond The Obvious

The key observation along with this statistic though, is that this is for the average man. Of course, the goal now must be to NOT BE AVERAGE. Whether this means to get more education, show more passion for your work to get a raise or a promotion, or to start a small business on the side, the drive is even more pressing now for the American male to reach higher. This is largely due to a one factor I can see: globalization. This is keeping the market for goods and services large and thereby reducing the price of labor. Since many of the jobs that were present in the 60s and 70s dealt with manufacturing and office work which can now be performed by machines and remotely in Asia for a lower price, it is natural that more of the jobs held by men in the United States are for lower pay. This is because those jobs cannot be outsourced or possibly that they don’t pay enough to make it worth it for businesses to outsource them. In fact, it is possible that your chance of making above average pay in that era was much better than it is now.

http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/070516/column_finance.html?.v=1&.pf=banking-budgeting