It is worth noting that these statistics never take into account people's retirement funds. The survey also does not ask how much people have saved, but rather how much they have in their Savings Account. Many people keep all of their money in a checking account. Hence 1 in 5 people saying they don't even have a savings account. This is a rather misleading statistic overall. But yes, most Americans do not save. They have absolutely no education when it comes to personal finance, and feel absolutely no responsibility to educate themselves. They honestly think they can figure out their budgets on their own. This is shown by a lot of other similar statistics as well as many books on personal finance. The reality is we live in a debt culture. Most people do not understand why savings is necessary not optional. When shit happens, they just think, "There's no way I could have prepared for that." But the reality is that shit always happens. That's the whole purpose of saving.
I don't think this survey says what they think it says.
"Methodology: This GOBankingRates.com survey posed the question, “How much money do you have saved in your savings account?” to 8,131 people among all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Responses were collected through a Google Consumer Survey conducted from Aug. 15, 2017, to Aug. 17, 2017, and responses are representative of the U.S. online population." [1]
This shows that a lot of people don't have saving accounts. Not that they don't have any savings. For example, they could keep their savings in a checking or money market account. Or as cash.
It's a survey, but according to GOBanking 69% of Americans do not have even a thousand dollars in savings[1] (Almost half of respondents — 45% — said they have $0 in a savings account. Another 24% said they have less than $1,000 in savings. From 829 random respondents)
46% of people hold no investments. [0] 57% of Americans don't have enough savings to cover a 500 dollar expense. [1] Nearly half have no retirement savings, which pushes the median retirement savings in the US to 5,000 dollars [2]. Additionally, for families with retirement savings, the median amount of 60,000 dollars. [2]
It's not how they asked the question, it's not about savings account rates being low. Most people don't save. Most people are not prepared for retirement.
Many (most?) Americans have no savings account. Not because they are poor but because a savings account is largely an obsolete anachronism. The common tactic of conflating "savings" with "having a savings account" is intentionally misleading.
Per the US government, the median US household has $1000/month they could invest after all ordinary expenses.
You decide to cite an advertisement for savings accounts that defines "savings" as having a savings account? Americans don't have savings accounts because they serve no purpose, it doesn't imply they can't pay an emergency expense. Furthermore, the survey asked how they would pay, not if they could pay.
That's like saying most Americans don't have a means of transportation because you've defined "means of transportation" as "owns a horse".
If you actually look at US Federal Reserve data, instead of advertisements, the percentage of Americans without the means to pay an unexpected expense is around 13%.
33% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. 45% of Americans have no money in a savings account. 69% of Americans have less than a thousand dollars in savings.
Only 20% of people in the USA have more than 10K in the bank. Savings losing money over time isn't relevant to most people, they are spending what they earn before it matters.
(and, btw, my point is not that people in the USA are spendthrifts. It's that most only make enough to support themselves).
That was based on a survey with the question "How much money do you have saved in your savings account?". I doubt most of the people who answered it included their 401k or HSA.
Most Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. The have nots absolutely aren't investing or saving. Most Americans can't afford a minor emergency either. Savings is at 1.10% at the most unless you have tens of thousands of dollars and a special high-rate savings account, so there isn't much incentive to save either.
That article says that 60% of Americans don't have $500 in a savings account, not that they don't have $500. Savings accounts are an anachronism, it is like saying Americans don't have phones if they don't have a landline. By that standard, I'm flat broke.
Americans can afford a $500 expense just fine. The median American household has ~$1000/month left over after all ordinary living expenses, per the US Bureau of Labor and Statistics.
Also, the article title is very different than the actual survey question:
> How much money do you have saved your savings account?
That's a very specific question. A person with $5k in their checking account or a person with $100k in a retirement account might still answer that they have no savings.
The median US citizen's savings is around $5k, and the US is the richest country on Earth (or so I'm told) [0]. So, my point stands: Most people don't have a lot of savings, and don't have the luxury to just save money for a later date.
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