by George Tucker

Created on: February 25, 2009

Everywhere we turn, we see stories of people losing their money. Maybe they were scammed by a work-from-home scheme. Maybe they invested their money in the stock market. Maybe they just can't resist a payday shopping spree. The fact remains - people in America spend more money than they make. So why do people lose their money so easily?

To answer this question we have to consider the pressures to spend money and weigh them against the urge to save money. Let's begin.

Money lost through investing

Many people will regale you with the saga of how they lost their life savings on the stock market. These stories were common after 1987's Black Monday, when the tech bubble crashed. They're common today, with the huge slide in equities prices. The reason so many people lose money on the stock market is simple: the average investor buys when the market is high, hoping it will rise higher. Then they sell when the market is low - in despair (economists call this "capitulation") because they fear their investment value will go to 0.

Keep in mind that many, many people lose money through investing. Some people lose money by shifting 401k contributions from a low-priced stock to a high-priced, but safer, Treasury. Many thousands of people are doing this right now and virtually guaranteeing a long-term loss.

Money lost to scams

We've all opened up our email and seen a note from a Nigerian millionaire's widow, who just needs a little help to get her husband's wealth released from a government agency. Oh yes, and she's willing to pay you for your time, too! You may wonder who's so dumb as to fall for such a transparent scam before you delete the message.

The truth is, thousands of people fall for the notorious Nigerian 419 scam every year. (That's the reason the scammers keep sending the emails - they're profitable!) There are several other common scams perpetrated via the Internet, including:

- the eBay auction that sells a fake product but charges hundreds of dollars in shipping fees (nonrefundable)

- the Craigslist buyer who offers to send you a check or money order in excess of the price of the product you're selling

- the fake roommate who needs you to deposit a check or money order as a deposit

- the phony bride (often from Russia, but frequently from nearly anywhere in Eastern Europe) who extorts money from lonely men

The on-line world has offered the unethical a vast new collection of people to scam from. Yes, it's easy to lose money in any of these on-line scams. That's why the

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