2006年NPR美国国家公共电台五月-Recent College Grads Talk about Money Man（在线收听） |
| Renee Montagne: It's graduation season and we're looking at the finances of young people. Last week we reported on ways to help teenagers avoid debt, today, college grads. Several authors who are as young as the people they write about have portrayed people in their twenties and thirties as facing an impossible financial situation ahead. They're struggling with debt; their salaries are stagnant. At least that's the stereotype. NPR's Lisa Chow has more. Lisa Chow: If the US economy depends on spending, Grace Kim is a great American. She's 28, single, and earns $50,000 a year at an architectural firm in New York. She spends all of her salary and then borrows on credit to spend more. Grace Kim: There're so many options, there're so many things to do, there're so many bars and, you do feel a pressure to sort of stay on top of everything; like what's the new place to go, where's a new restaurant to eat and, and also to wear like the cool clothes and, buy the expensive shoes or... Lisa Chow: On this evening, Kim and dozens of others gather in a small apartment in downtown Manhattan to celebrate her birthday. They're crowding doorways, squeezing into the kitchen and living room. Apartments like this, about the size of a subway car, sell for more than a million dollars in this city. Kim talks about trying to take a friend's budgeting advice. Grace Kim: And she was like, Okay, the next few months you are gonna spend 100 dollars a week, that was like hell... I mean, I mean my sister and I, we're making like gourmet mac 'n' cheese from 20-cent generic boxes. But, you know, after a while, we got really sick of mac 'n' cheese. Lisa Chow: Grace Kim's story is typical of people in their twenties and thirties, but not as much as it used to be. A recent survey published by the Federal Reserve shows that since the early 90s, more people under 35 own their own homes, more put money into retirement accounts and fewer have credit card debt, like James Levie, who hates to waste money. James Levie: An evening out is easily 100 to 200 dollars. You wake up in the morning, you're hung-over and you know, you've got a big hole in your pocket, that's not a feeling I've ever particularly enjoyed. Lisa Chow: Levie works at a private equity firm. He's 30, and every year he puts the maximum in his company's retirement plan. He invests whatever's left over. In his working life so far, he has saved close to a quarter of a million dollars, more than triple what most sixty-year-olds have in financial assets. He and his wife Nami Sowajema don't always see eye to eye. James Levie: So it's not so much the act of spending money that bothers me, it's the, the act of thoughtlessly spending money that bothers me. Nami Sowajema: But you also enjoy saving money. James Levie: Right. I do get pleasure... Nami Sowajema: Like you, you get really excited when you find like a way to save a dollar from doing something. James Levie: That was true, I do. Lisa Chow: Levie made more than 200,000 dollars last year. When his wife decided to go to graduate school two years ago, he decided to pay her tuition 80,000 dollars of it in full out of his savings. On his salary, it's not surprising that he saves until you hear how. Take grocery shopping. Nami Sowajema: He has the places that he thinks is a better place to buy from, 'coz I would probably just go to wherever's closest. Lisa Chow: He won't take cabs. James Levie: I grew up in New York City, so I feel like I know how to get around the city and, to me, it's completely natural just to walk when you can. Lisa Chow: When Levie is not saving money by walking, he's driving, out of his way to save. James Levie: I've done all the calculations and I figured out, the, the routes that bypass the tolls. If they take an extra 2 minutes and I save 2 dollars, I have done the math to figure out whether or not my time is really worth that much. Lisa Chow: James Levy challenges the perception that young adults are all on debt. Save 2 dollars here; save 2 dollars there. All that money is going towards plans to buy an apartment. Not unlike the one he is visiting tonight. Lisa Chow: Lisa Chows, NPR News, Washington. Renee Montagne: Next week you can hear why young adults don't save as much as their parents did. This is Morning Edition from NPR News, I'm Renee Montagne. |
| 原文地址：http://www.tingroom.com/lesson/NPR2006/40826.html |