
69% of Americans Have Less Than $1,000 in Savings Accounts - kelukelugames
https://www.gobankingrates.com/personal-finance/data-americans-savings/
======
needcaffeine
Taken literally, I fall in this 69%, because my emergency funds are in my
checking account. I'd guess that most people keep their money spread across
different kinds of accounts, assets, and investments.

If we don't take this literally, then perhaps the concern is that most people
have no savings anywhere, and live paycheck to paycheck.

~~~
vlunkr
They really need to say in the article what they mean by savings, because
otherwise it is useless. And if it means literal saving accounts, then who
cares.

~~~
gthtjtkt
In the Methodology section of the survey page, it says:

> The survey posed the question, “How much money do you have saved in your
> savings account?” and provided the following as possible answers: $0, “just
> the minimum balance requirement,” less than $1,000, $1,000-$4,999,
> $5,000-$9,999, $10,000 or more, and “I don’t have a savings account.”

Based on the wording of the question and answers, I'm guessing many people
would have taken the question literally and answered the same way you did.

My answer would be the same. Even though I have plenty of money in my checking
accounts, I have almost nothing in the "savings" account. I've never heard a
good reason to move money from the former to the latter.

~~~
the_watcher
Shameless plug, but this is why my company, Survata, reviews every single
survey that goes out through us, to catch biases written into questions. They
can seriously skew results. That said, even though I imagine there was some
level of confusion about savings v. checking, my guess is that the overall
conclusion wouldn't change substantially if you guaranteed the respondents all
understood the question identically. The news that Americans don't have nearly
enough savings isn't exactly new, and as others have pointed out, there are
plenty of situations where living paycheck to paycheck is the only realistic
option.

~~~
GFischer
I can attest to this, I used Survata several years ago and I was very pleased
with the service, very high quality results.

I'm glad to read you're still around and still maintaining that high quality
of service. I look forward to being able to use your service in the future :)

------
ovulator
How much they have in a savings account? Who has a savings account? I have $5
in my savings account because my credit union makes me. It has around a 0.025%
interest rate so I would be stupid to put any more money into it.

~~~
FilterSweep
> I would be stupid to put any more money into it.

As a millennial who will not be retiring (period) unless severely injured,
where else would I put my savings? My checking account rate is 0%.

Whole Term life insurance only can be "cashed in" after building 20+ years.

I'm holding some long term positions in stocks (risk), but honestly, I cant
find anywhere else I would put the bulk than a savings account.

~~~
grardb
Fellow millennial here. I'd recommend investing in stock indexes. Your money,
on average, will grow at a faster rate than inflation. If you leave your money
in a checking or savings account, you will lose money to inflation.

If you're interested, I'd check out:

\- The Mr. Money Mustache blog (my personal favorite)

\- r/personalfinance

\- patio11 also wrote an article on investing recently:
[https://training.kalzumeus.com/newsletters/archive/investing...](https://training.kalzumeus.com/newsletters/archive/investing-
for-geeks?__s=esaiz3kazigwidftsigk)

A relevant MMM blog post (there are plenty others):
[http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/05/18/how-to-make-
money-...](http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/05/18/how-to-make-money-in-the-
stock-market/)

There are also a lot of other blogs if you're not into his philosophy or
writing style.

Edit: Just for clarity, I know that you said you invest in stocks currently,
but I was mostly speaking to, "I cant find anywhere else I would put the bulk
than a savings account." I don't have a savings account, and I treat my
investments like savings. You shouldn't need a lot of money in your current
savings account, but you should have a lot in investments. If you feel the
need to have a lot in your savings account, I'm guessing it means you take
money out of it often, in which case it might as well be in a checking
account. Just my $0.02.

~~~
FilterSweep
Very much appreciated!

Do you self-invest, or hire a professional, or mixed?

Currently I'm managing my own stocks. My employer, my IRA and other monies
I'll never get to see.

~~~
grardb
To start off, I used Vanguard and did it all myself, which is a great option
(many would say the best). I've since switched to Wealthfront, which is also
pretty cool, although some people believe their slightly-higher fees don't buy
you anything[1]. I personally disagree!

The general consensus from what I've read on investing is that it's impossible
to beat the market consistently, so "professionals" are no more skilled than
someone picking out random investment decisions from a hat :) On average, the
market as a whole grows, so there's no real reason to try to risk beating it.

The MMM blog covers all of this in great detail, but if you're interested in
chatting more about this stuff (or if you want a referral to Wealthfront for
reduced fees!), hit me up. My email is [myusername]@gmail.

[1] [https://medium.com/@blakeross/wealthfront-silicon-valley-
tec...](https://medium.com/@blakeross/wealthfront-silicon-valley-tech-at-wall-
street-prices-fdd2e5f54905#.d1ybm8xaq)

~~~
toomuchtodo
> To start off, I used Vanguard and did it all myself, which is a great option
> (many would say the best). I've since switched to Wealthfront, which is also
> pretty cool, although some people believe their slightly-higher fees don't
> buy you anything[1]. I personally disagree!

Interesting! I switched from Betterment TO Vanguard once I didn't need the
guidance they provide (and corresponding higher asset management charges)
anymore (target date funds in retirement accounts, life strategy funds in
taxable accounts for extreme early retirement Mr Money Mustache style).

------
pmoriarty
There seems to be a real disconnect between some HN readers and most
Americans, who have a median _household_ income of $54k. Half of Americans
live on less. A lot of them live paycheck to paycheck (if they're fortunate
enough to have a job at all) and many have huge debts on top.

~~~
yummyfajitas
There seems to be a real disconnect between some HN readers and most Chinese,
who have a median income of $10k. Half of the Chinese live on less. Most of
them _don 't_ live paycheck to paycheck and many _don 't_ have huge debts on
top.

Instead, the Chinese are financially responsible and save between 25% and 50%
of their income. They accomplish this by reducing their consumption.

[http://www.forbes.com/sites/moneybuilder/2010/06/24/one-
big-...](http://www.forbes.com/sites/moneybuilder/2010/06/24/one-big-
difference-between-chinese-and-american-households-debt/)

[edit: I misread, apparently it's urban Chinese. A little more googling gives
similar numbers, so I stand by the point I'm making.
[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-09/here-s-
wh...](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-09/here-s-what-china-s-
middle-class-really-earn-and-spend)
[http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2016-01/21/content_231834...](http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2016-01/21/content_23183484.htm)
]

~~~
unprepare
1\. the article you linked says they have an average income of 10k, not
median.

2\. they have significantly lower cost of living

3\. fta:

>in both China and the U.S., the average family’s assets were about eight
times its average income.

4\. seems this was a study of 2000 urban chinese, not all chinese. a sample of
2000 urbanites probably doesnt scale to over a billion people....

5\. china has undergone several decades of large economic growth. if you
compared china today with theUS in the late 1950s theyd probably seem pretty
similar...

6\. only 12% of chinese (from the 2000 person sample) owned a car

~~~
yummyfajitas
1) In higher inequality countries (which includes China) the median is usually
lower than the average. So that only makes my point stronger.

2) The numbers provided are adjusted for PPP.

4) Whether urban or overall, it illustrates that far poorer people than
Americans are able to save money. The savings rates across the country don't
differ significantly. India also has a very high savings rate.

5) Yes, and it's still poor by US standards. So was 1950's USA. If 1950's
Americans could save (did they), why can't vastly richer 2016 Americans?

6) As I noted, Chinese people save money by reducing consumption.

~~~
1812Overture
Adjusted for inflation median household income in the US has grown by about
20% since 1950. Given massive increases in inequality since then the lower
percentiles have seen close to zero growth since then. But TVs have gotten
bigger, which is nice.

~~~
yummyfajitas
You are off by about 60% - prior to 1996 inflation was overstated by
1.6%/year.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boskin_Commission](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boskin_Commission)

It's actually still overstated; for example, there is no hedonic adjustment to
health care in CPI. In 1950, I'd be a cripple. In 2014 I had surgery and now
I'm in great shape. Since surgery costs more than a doctor saying "you're
fucked", the BLS treated it as inflation.

And really, this claim just doesn't pass the smell test. And by "smell", I
mean the smell of an outhouse. In 1950 the bottom 16-32% (depending on which
set of numbers you look at) lacked full indoor plumbing.

[https://books.google.com/books?id=_nY9LFtlqygC&pg=PA180&lpg=...](https://books.google.com/books?id=_nY9LFtlqygC&pg=PA180&lpg=PA180&dq=1950+flush+toilets+penetration&source=bl&ots=1zpmWoGahy&sig=5C4bESETWdXtdWcF4u3spSphJTs&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjimazLlqHPAhXDcD4KHaPpBb0Q6AEIIzAB#v=onepage&q=1950%20flush%20toilets%20penetration&f=false)

~~~
1812Overture
I'm basing those numbers on this:

[http://www.advisorperspectives.com/dshort/updates/2015/09/23...](http://www.advisorperspectives.com/dshort/updates/2015/09/23/median-
household-income-growth-deflating-the-american-dream)

I'm obviously not making an argument that technology hasn't advanced since the
1950s. Don't be silly.

------
RmDen
I would like to see what % of the stock market is held by individuals. 0 in
savings but 100K in the stock market..if you get an average Div Yield of 2%
(not difficult if you add AT&T, PCG, GE, DUK etc etc to your holdings) you
would get a much better return, not even counting the price increase. Also how
many people have 0 in savings but 100K+ in 401K/IRA accounts. Nobody saves in
a cash account for retirement right? why would you, you get no tax break

~~~
xenihn
I don't like how the article isn't exactly clear on whether the people with
less than $1,000 in their savings aren't simply using their checking accounts
to store their cash. I've seen similar articles about a large percentage of
Americans being unable to come up with $x amount of money on short notice for
an emergency. I think that wording is more specific -- it implies that they
don't have the money in any sort of liquid form, whether that be bank
accounts, physical assets, or even cryptocurrencies.

------
marcoperaza
Kind of a stupid statistic, how much people have in their savings account.
With interest rates so low, a savings account is basically worthless. The more
interesting question is how much they have saved in total, across all accounts
and investments.

~~~
jp555
Right on, and if you include account fees, it's equivalent to disturbingly
high negative interest.

~~~
djrogers
If you've got account fees on your savings account you need a new bank. Hint -
just because there's one on every corner and their headquarters is a 40 story
building downtown doesn't mean it's a good bank.

Local banks and credit unions are almost always better for you and your
money..

~~~
pilom
There are also online-only banks (Ally and CapitalOne360) that offer great
rates and no fees but they can't handle cash deposits.

------
wibbleywobbley
I have less than $1000 in my savings account because I still have a student
loan that has an 11% interest rate. I work two jobs and pay upwards of $3000 a
month towards my student loans.

I've had zero luck refinancing my student loans because I "don't have enough
money in savings", despite being years ahead on my payments.

------
vonklaus
Just to counterbalance some anecdotes, I-- as well as many friends; have
literally no savings and very little in the way of assets. Given trends
towards renting, part-time pay, lack of employee benefits and on-demand
services; many Americans have little in the way of assets

~~~
pilom
Do you think it is because you collectively have chosen lives that encourage
higher spending than average (median annual spending of single people is about
32k/year) or because you have been unable to find consistent work that pays
$15/hour?

------
justinlardinois
> Low-Income Adults Struggle the Most With Saving Money

Is this really a significant enough conclusion to make a subheadline? It seems
obvious to me that those who are living paycheck to paycheck (or close to it)
would have trouble saving.

------
GFischer
Previously very heavily discussed when the number was 62%:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10353954](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10353954)

(the "past" option doesn't find it because these are new numbers)

A relevant link at the time:

 _47% of Americans say they lack the cash to pay a surprise $400 bill_

[http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2015/jun/09/...](http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2015/jun/09/..).

------
MichaelBurge
I don't even have a savings account, but I've got $50k just lying around in a
dozen checking accounts. The article is written to conclude that I'm in dire
straits.

~~~
ghaff
No, it's written to conclude that you really need to click on their links and
open an account with one of the places you're referred to.

------
pilom
I hate it that they equate "how much you have in your savings account" with
"how good you are at saving money." Even if you ignore retirement savings,
what about Checking accounts? What about Roth IRAs that can have all of the
principal removed tax and penalty free? A person could be REALLY good at
savings and just have chosen that their liquid cash stays in checking accounts
and emergency funds stay in their Roth IRA.

------
e0m
Given that the best savings / MMA accounts are netting at most 1.10%, and
inflation has swung between ~1% and 3% over the past 10 years, you're likely
losing money with a savings account.

Better to dump it in a major index fund or bonds if you're feeling cautious.

Most people with substantial incomes realize this and do this anyway. I wonder
if investment portfolios were included when they asked about "savings"
accounts?

~~~
Dutchie
I don't know about the USA, but in Europe "ordinary" people don't do
investment portfolios. You can safely assume that if they don't have any
savings, they most certainly won't have investment portfolios.

~~~
plandis
I find that hard to believe. Europeans don't have retirement investments? Even
if it's just a pension they have some sort of portfolio even if it's not
managed by the individual.

~~~
GFischer
I don't know about Europe, but here in Uruguay and South America in general
you have absolutely no say about what they do with your pension money.

There are even laws mandating the pension funds to invest in local Treasury
bonds (which are fortunately reasonably safe and high-yield, Uruguay is among
the most stable in the continent)

In Latin America in general pension funds are mismanaged and periodically
raided by populist governments.

------
tn13
69% Americans include children, elderly, housewives, daily wage people etc.
who do not maintain an active bank account. The best would be to check this
number household and consider all savings instead of merely savings bank
account.

------
plandis
To be fair why would anyone have a savings account? The interest is terrible
and there are withdrawal limits.

With interest rates being what they are keeping liquid cash in a checking
account seems optimal

~~~
justinlardinois
I do it only because I find it useful to segregate my cash savings from the
rest of my money.

But you have a good point, especially because the survey asked _specifically_
about savings accounts:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12549863](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12549863)

------
rocky1138
This is a really poor title. It should read "in Savings Accounts"

~~~
stevep001
A better title would be "Ad supported site: Not enough Americans are clicking
on our savings account ads."

~~~
ghaff
Yep. I have no doubt that savings--wherever they're held--are arguably lower
than they "should" be (for all sorts of reasons) but this site does seem to be
actively pushing people toward actual traditional savings accounts.

------
okwhatthe2
Only 6.7% of the global population have a college degree.

------
Nano2rad
Savings are not necessary in countries with social security.

~~~
rm_-rf_slash
Got a letter from the SSA the other day. Said quite clearly with no ambiguity
that Social Security should not be considered to provide more than 40% of your
retirement income. Savings are necessary if you want to live out your old age
at a standard above "almost poverty."

------
asciihacker
Holding wealth in the dollar means holding wealth in a depreciating asset.
Gold, silver, bitcoin, real estate, etc much preferred.

But given that my income and expenses are head up (at the moment), I'm in the
same boat ... 7k net in and 7k out, a lot of which is me re-buying my own CC
debt with loans from lending club, etc.

~~~
pilom
Bitcoin is by definition depreciating. Precious metals have very little
utility and are only used as stores of value. They can not generate dividends
and are therefore likely to under perform in the very long term:
[http://www.businessinsider.com/buffett-on-
gold-2012-2](http://www.businessinsider.com/buffett-on-gold-2012-2)

Real estate can be a decent way to store money long term because of the rent
you can collect. Because many people are highly leveraged with real estate,
selling before your mortgage is paid off can be very volatile.

~~~
1812Overture
Good real estate investment: Buying a rental property. Bad real estate
investment: Buying a bigger house than you need for yourself hoping it will go
up in value.

------
zackify
Ironic, a website talking about banking can't even properly load all of their
assets over https....

~~~
justinlardinois
I'm not sure I see how that's ironic.

