Nearly Half of Americans Have No Savings

The other 51% of Americans in the survey (a total of 5,006 people responded to a Google Consumer Survey) had at least some savings, according to a report at GOBankingRates:

• 9% maintained a minimum required balance
• 13% reported savings of less than $1,000
• 10% reported savings of between $1,000 and $4,999
• 5% reported savings of between $5,000 and $9,999
• 14% reported savings of $10,000 or more

Another interesting data point: Among respondents earning less than $100,000 a year, about 20% in every income category did not have a savings account at all, and nearly 14% of those earning more than $100,000 had no savings account at all.

Baby boomers (ages 55 to 64) and seniors (65 and up) have the most money saved of any age group, with a full 20% of those past retirement age reporting savings of $10,000 or more. More than 16% of Generation X (ages 35 to 54) have saved at least $10,000 while less than half that many young millennials (ages 18 to 24) say they have saved $10,000. What’s surprising there is that 7.5% of young millennials have managed to save that much already.

A personal finance expert at GOBankingRates said:

It’s worrisome that such a large percentage of Americans have so little set aside in a savings account. It suggests that they likely don’t have cash reserves to cover an emergency and will have to rely on credit, friends, and family, or even their retirement accounts to cover unexpected expenses.

The other side of the coin, of course, is that the more people save the less demand there is for goods and services. The most recently reported U.S. personal savings rate is 4.6%, about the same as in the United Kingdom (4.7%), but well below either Japan (24.1%) or Mexico (19.8%).

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