How to fix a broken savings strategy
Published 4/3/15 
By Peter Andrew
The only thing that stands between me and my being a good saver is my inability to differentiate between things I want and things I need. Show me something that it would be nice to have, and I'll show you the spectacular display of mental gymnastics necessary to turn that object of desire into a necessity. It's not that I'm a noticeably stupid person in most respects. It's just that my brain seems to have a blind spot when it comes to impulse control.
Either that or I'm too stupid to recognize my own stupidity. Looking around though, it appears I'm not alone in having impulse control issues when it comes to spending.
Most Americans financially unhealthy
Fifty-seven percent of adults in this country say they struggle financially, and 43 percent of U.S. households find simply keeping up with bills and finance payments a real challenge. Those numbers come from a new study from the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI), which seeks to better understand people's "financial health," something it defines as occurring "when an individual's daily financial system functions well and increases the likelihood of financial resilience and opportunity."
Two other figures from the study show just how important savings are to achieving such health:
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