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Personal annual savings rates averaged 8.32% between 1959- 2016, reaching an all time high of 17% in May, 1975 and a record low of 1.90% in July, 2005.
The link does however conclude that the reasons for the low savings rate is generally attributed to people using credit cards to live beyond their means.
The US has historically been lousy savers compared to the rest of the developed world. There are many reasons why the so called standard of living is higher in the US than most other places. We live in more square footage and have more stuff.
Fifty years ago, one could get 5% on passbook savings.
Why would anybody keep cash in a bank?
Yeah, if they are literally looking at how much money people have in a "savings account" then it really isn't telling us much. I have less than $1000 in my savings account, but much more than that in my checking (which pays on 0.25% less) and money market accounts, not to mention retirement and other investment accounts.
Average is not a good barometer. One guy has 2 million and the other guy has none and the average is 1 million. No one denies that the top hasn't done very, very well under Obama.
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
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A lot of the problem is most (not all) poor people have low IQs and don't know how to use money wisely. If you gave them $5,000 today they would spend it all on casinos or car accessories by this weekend. I live in a working class White neighborhood and see it all the time. My neighbors work at Wal Mart and recently bought 2 newer Chevy Camaros and then bought fancy rims for them. Every other day they are screaming at each other in the front yard arguing about money.
A lot of the problem is most (not all) poor people have low IQs and don't know how to use money wisely.
Many of the rich start off as poor. Those that didn't really do not have an argument here. And yes, that could go for Trump also.
Being poor can mean you just finished college with a six figure debt.
Quote:
If you gave them $5,000 today they would spend it all on casinos or car accessories by this weekend. I live in a working class White neighborhood and see it all the time. My neighbors work at Wal Mart and recently bought 2 newer Chevy Camaros and then bought fancy rims for them. Every other day they are screaming at each other in the front yard arguing about money.
A good taxable money market in 2004 paid about 5.7% annual. Now the same pays less than 0.01%. Hundreds of times less interest appreciation. I don't have a savings account. Would I answer $0 to the survey?
I have a checking account, a 401K, two IRAs, an HSA, an RHB, and an indvidual (non-qual) brokerage account (the last contains nearly half of my net worth).
This is the result after almost eight years of Obama.
"Last year, GoBankingRates surveyed more than 5,000 Americans only to uncover that 62% of them had less than $1,000 in savings. Last month GoBankingRates again posed the question to Americans of how much they had in their savings account, only this time it asked 7,052 people. The result? Nearly seven in 10 Americans (69%) had less than $1,000 in their savings account."
I won't deny that Americans don't save enough, but this question is crap? It is about putting savings in a savings account.
Who would put a lot of money in a savings account? I have more questions about those who are keeping over 10,000 in a savings account; that does not appear to be very good money management.
For the record I have less than $200 in my savings account. I do however have significant assets that I could liquidate if I needed to. In addition, I have significant retirement assets that I could tap in an emergency.
What is the value of keeping money in a savings account?
I would be a nervous wreck if I only had that much saved for potential emergencies, etc.
Scary that the figure invariably includes parents.
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