When 40 percent of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, you have to wonder why saving money is so difficult. Marketplace Money’s Carmen Wong Ulrich points to declining wages, but she also says the culture of saving was lost.

“When you have a job market that was doing so well, there wasn’t this pressure to have an emergency fund of six months,” she says. “Who would need that? You could get a job in a couple months.”

Click the player above to hear some of Carmen’s tips to get you in the saving habit, even amid today’s low interest rates.