40% of Americans earning $100,000-$149,000 a year say they have less than $1,000 in savings! 18% say they have NOTHING saved.
How much money do you have in the bank right now? If you answered more than $1,000, you’re in the minority. That’s both crazy and sad.
It’s true though, according to a new survey by GoBankingRates.com. And it’s getting worse. Check this out: In 2015, 5,000 adults were asked how much they had in savings. 62% said they had less than a grand squirreled away.
When the question was asked this year – this time of 7,000 adults – the percentage of people with less than $1,000 in savings jumped to 69%. A third said they had nothing (34%). That number’s up as well. 28% said they had nothing in savings in 2015.
It’s a recipe for disaster. Did we learn nothing from the last recession about the need to have something in reserve? While that’s certainly tough for people with little or no income or struggling lower-middle class families, but what’s shocking is the HUGE number of people making a pretty darn good living that can’t seem to put anything away.
High Earners. No Savings.
Let’s say you make $100,000 a year. You should be able to save something, right? Not so fast, says the survey
40% of Americans earning $100,000-$149,000 a year say they have less than $1,000 in savings! 18% say they have NOTHING saved.
Let’s say you make $150k or more a year. 6% said they had zero savings and another 23% had $1,000 or less. So 29% of those making $150,000 or more every year have been able to saving $1,000 or less.
“It doesn’t matter if they are making $30,000 per year or $300,000 — people don’t seem to know how to spend less than they make,” – Michael Hardy, a certified financial planner with Mollot & Hardy in Amherst, N.Y.
Key findings:
- 40% of Americans making $100,000+ a year have less than $1,000 in savings
- Women are more likely than men to have $0 saved – 42% have nothing saved versus 28%
- Millennials aged 25 to 34 are more likely than Gen Xers aged 45-54 to have $1,000 or more in savings
- These 5 Southern states have the highest percentage of residents with $0 in savings: Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Georgia and Texas
- 62% of seniors aged 65 and up have less than $1,000 in savings, with 1 in 3 having no savings account at all
“What our survey found is extremely shocking because it shows that the majority of Americans are just one emergency expense away from being broke…Because there is no way to predict when a financial emergency can arise, it is crucial to make saving money a habit in case the worst happens.” – Kristen Bonner, lead researcher on the study.
For the full 2016 survey details, including insights into age, gender and income, go to: https://www.gobankingrates.com/personal-finance/data-americans-savings/
Paul Dughi.com 