The pernicious ideology of personal finance scolds

Here's the dark side to all those calls to save, save, save...

Not everyone saves in the same way.
(Image credit: (iStock))

Are you saving enough for retirement? Probably not, if you listen to the personal finance advisers out there.

These are people who perform middle-class morality by scolding people for not saving enough money. And sure, cutting debt and avoiding high-interest loans is all well and good. But the ideology of saving scolds goes a lot further than that. Their radically individualist views are not just incoherent, but ideologically pernicious.

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Ryan Cooper

Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.