Note 2

Personal Saving as a Percentage of Disposable Income (1970-2005). Click the thumbnail image above left to view this chart.

Personal savings as a percentage of disposable income has been declining since the early 1990s as families substituted increasing asset values for savings. With the plunge in real estate we will probably return to more traditional savings rates in the 8 to 10% range as a percentage of disposable income. For several years consumers will spend little - thus insuring that economic recovery will be slow.