Survey: 69% of Americans Have Less Than $1,000 in Savings
forbes.com
forbes.com
Even if you gave someone without savings 600 bucks right now, chances are they'd turn around and buy a new iphone with it instead of saving it. And then you have all the people who are in a situation where they can't save if they wanted to, be it because of poor decisions or bad circumstances out of their control.
And honestly, even if you CAN save...I'm very lucky and quite privileged, and was looking at my 401k recently. It's doing quite well (yay!), but if I extrapolate to retirement, I'm not even close to what I'll need to have a comfy retirement. The majority of people are just flat out screwed.
How to solve this...who knows. Its a hard problem.
Most in that situation would spend the money, but on needs like food or medication. The "blow it on a new iPhone" meme comes from an entitled right wing culture (that also made up the concept of a "Welfare Queen ")
Or debt. (Real debt -- the ones where they break your legs if you don't repay.)
> The "blow it on a new iPhone" meme comes from an entitled right wing culture
I would have kept "right wing" out of it. Entitlement stereotypes are on both sides of the aisle, no need to make this partisan.
The first use of the term that I can find is from Jet Magazine in 1974. They're hardly "right-wing".
https://books.google.com/books?id=DVsDAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA1&pg=PA...
There is going to be a huge intersection of people with less than 1000$ in savings, but have an iPhone.
Perhaps that's WHY they have so little savings? I knew a family who filed for bankruptcy while having 3 macbooks they used for MS Word and Facebook. Bad spending habits and the need to keep up with the Jones are both issues.
Not all people are poor because they "waste" money, but when you consider that a lot of luxuries are considered "necessities", you have to question things.
Sometimes "luxuries" are necessities, in less obvious ways. For example, it may be very difficult to get certain types of jobs unless you display the right status symbols[1].
[1] https://tressiemc.com/2013/10/29/the-logic-of-stupid-poor-pe...
The $20 Principle
I have written before about how $20 can change a
student’s life.
The $20 is slightly euphemistic but not entirely so.
We talk a lot about big money in higher education but I
know for a fact that it’s small money that can derail
one’s educational ambitions.
I was a student in a doctoral preparation program. I was
an older “non-traditional” student. I was independent. I
didn’t have children but neither was I still someone’s
child. To take advantage of this highly competitive
program, I had to submit a $100 reservation fee.
I didn’t have it.
I was $24 short.
But that just makes the whole "if you give someone in need 600$, they will spend it on an iphone" MORE valid. If you need status symbols just for the symbol, you might wind up skimping on physical necessities (car repairs, rent, food, etc). Whether or not that is their fault could be up for debate, but it makes the statement itself all the more true.
I only have anecdotal evidence, but people who are poor because they have bad decision making skills would drop 600$ on some "status symbol" trifle without a second thought. People who are poor because of bad luck/circumstances will try their best to save it, or spend it on bills, food, etc.
Beyond that actually good arguments people have already given you, that's just been my life experience. I was born and raised poor. Not "I'm living paycheck to paycheck in a studio apartment poor", but rather "Wondering when this week I'll have enough money to eat" poor.
And so, the people I grew up with were the same. And while iphones did not exist at the time, you can bet your ass the moment someone had just enough money to buy bread, the rest went on their new electric guitar. And the day they got their foodstamps, they would trade a portion of them so they could get a shiny new TV.
That's just human nature.
And while I was never homeless, I spent most of my life having to pick between rent and food and surrounded by people who were in the same boat. That's where I've seen that situation happen times and times again.
Yes, being judgmental without knowing the whole story isn't a good thing, but that misses the point: people are choosing to spend instead of save-and many times it's on luxuries. He's not just talking about the poor.
It is a fact that an iPhone is a luxury. There are plenty of much cheaper phones that function exactly the same as an iPhone. But through excessive marketing and a digitized world, people are convinced they NEED an iPhone. They're convinced they NEED a $1500 Macbook Pro for school in liberal arts.
It's not good to make judgments on the poor, but this is 69% of Americans, not just the poor (impoverished are closer to 15%), and that's the scary part. Most but the top 30% are spending above their means, and getting credit to do it, in an economy that's probably not going to grow like it did in the 20th century.
If that's true, then people for whom it's difficult/impossible to save are completely screwed, and we need to chance something, because the odds really ARE stacked against them.
> ...asked 7,000 people around the country how much money they had set aside in savings accounts for the future...
I think that would include CDs and other savings vehicles. It is unclear if that counts retirement accounts.
"The Fed asked respondents how they would pay for a $400 emergency. The answer: 47 percent of respondents said that either they would cover the expense by borrowing or selling something, or they would not be able to come up with the $400 at all. Four hundred dollars! Who knew?"
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/05/my-secre...
1 in 3 Americans has $0 saved for Retirement, and 56% have less than $10,000
I guess the question I would have is "What is the 10th/25th/Median percentile of net-liquidity" and "What is the expected downstream third-party income from Social Security/Pensions/etc..." expected. That paints a fuller picture of people's financial stability, and also identifies how important Social Security is to their wellbeing.
Yeah, forget the saving account. Retirement is going to be the real issue. Lot of people going to be eating dog food in the future.
Pensions for anyone under 45 are pretty much non existent, with a few exceptions. Even if they are, the companies tend to screw with them. Our company just froze the salary for pension calculations (not that I have one), so somebody could work another 20 years and retire at a percentage of today's pay.
At least I get a crappy annuity and 401k matching. New hires now get neither.
However, the truth is that a majority of Americans worry about how to pay food and rent every month. This is not because they are all irresponsible human beings, but because American society makes it really freaking terrible to be in the bottom half. Retirement is out of reach; saving for an emergency has to fight with rent has to fight with prescription medications has to fight with clothes for your kids.
I feel the descriptor of middle class has moved away from X% disposable income and that you are describing a 'traditional' middle class. I do not live in the US however and could be tainted by my personal experience in AUS.
If I had to pony up $400, I would definitely use a credit card because its what I have on me.
For example, in my financial situation, I would borrow to cover an unexpected $400 expanse. However, that is because I have a prior agreement with my parents that they would loan me (at 0% interest) to cover unexpected expenses, so I have no reason to keep a surplus of money fully liquid when it could be earning better returns elsewhere.
My parents, for their part, base their savings on the assumption that they would cover unexpected expanses from their line of credit secured against their house. This, again, is not because they do not have the money to set aside for emergencies, but because they think that the opportunity cost of keeping the money liquid outweighs the cost of occasionally paying on credit. As it happens, they could pay for a $400 emergency out of pocket, but that is mostly because they are too rich to micromanage at the $400 dollar level.
With respect to retirement savings, I do not think that stat is as bad as it first appears (although I do think the typical American is underrepresented for retirement). The basic financial story is:
1) take on debt for big, lifetime purchases (education and a house).
2) Pay of debt
3) Accumulate wealth
4) Retire and live off of accumulated wealth
Given this, it is not unreasonable that young people would have no money set aside for retirement, because it might be more efficient to use that money to pay off debt.
That's fantastic you have a safety net with your parents, with amazing credit, that can borrow at good rates, at any time.
What about the people paying double digit interest rates to get a crappy used car? People who can't borrow money because of no credit, without their parents to cover extreme interest rates?
It's great that some people have the luxury to somehow not have an emergency fund, but a huge portion of the population is unable to do that. The last thing they care about is return on investment in savings-they need money to get food next week.
Somewhat tangentially, it always surprises me that people continue to use checking/savings accounts from banks like Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, etc. when they pay terrible interest rates, don't reimburse ATM fees, and sometimes actually charge you for debit cards and/or paper checks. If it's the thought of not having access to real brick & mortar banks that scares you, Schwab is a great option (though they pay much less interest than the top online ones).
If you have your paycheck auto-depositied, you can avoid most/all of the fees.
Also, without researching, I'm just guessing that a bricks and mortar FDIC regulated bank is reasonably safe (in the United States). I would have to sit down and do somewhat more research to be certain of an entity like Ally.
Note, these are all personal observations - the original post was indicating they were surprised that people put their money in Wells Fargo/Bank of America, etc... instead of Ally. I was just trying to supply one (personal) reason why we do it. It's entirely possible that my biases/conservative nature make those reasons ridiculous, but they are still honest.
Just for the record though, Ally is FDIC insured/regulated (and I'd guess that's true of most online banks that people actually use). I know you didn't explicitly say otherwise, but I wanted to make a note of that for anyone else who might be worried about that specifically.
For someone like you, I'd reiterate my recommendation for Schwab. But if you never pay fees as is (even from ATMs) then I could see how it may not be worth the time to switch.
Yes, Wells Fargo is a bigger company but Ally is no small potato.
That might be an answer to you but it's not an answer to anyone asking. What's so terrible about Ally?
Ally I put real savings in.
Chase I use when I sell something in Craigslist for $600 and need to deposit cash. I have no good way to get cash into Ally.
So Chase is just a convenience bank for me. Also used it for the time I needed a 25k cashier check to buy my house. Ally was going to need to pay a wire fee, vs transfer and cashier check was free with Chase.
Overall yes I hate Chase.
We have a mutually abusive relationship.
Also it would be helpful to see how this has changed over time.
https://us-history-the-great-depression.wikispaces.com/Easy+...
If that's the case here, then this is a beyond-vapid statistic. Savings accounts are worthless. $1000 in my savings account will, after ten years, earn me $5 in interest.
But the main issue still is real. Regardless of "savings account" status, other studies show ~half of Americans are financially insecure today. Should an emergency expense of $2000 come up they don't have it.
The problem is getting worse as baby boomers retire. If you include underfunded retirement savings in the group at risk then the vast, vast majority of Americans are in a financially insecure position.
Pew Trusts did a study as well: "One in 3 American families reports having no savings at all, including 1 in 10 of those with incomes of more than $100,000 a year."
"41 percent did not have enough liquid savings to cover the $2,000 cost of the typical household’s most expensive financial shock."
Link to Pew report [pdf] http://www.pewtrusts.org/~/media/assets/2015/11/emergencysav...
"The Fed asked respondents how they would pay for a $400 emergency. The answer: 47 percent of respondents said that either they would cover the expense by borrowing or selling something, or they would not be able to come up with the $400 at all."
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/05/my-secre...
The reason there is no savings is because there is never any extra in recent years. There have always been things I went without, like insurance or more recently a car. Or eating out hardly ever.
Maybe people ought to do the opposite. Work for the risky startup during middle age when you have a cushion built up, and you are opt not to give a shit.
First of all we're in the middle of a boom cycle and any competent engineer (which I assume you are) can get a six-figure salary WITH equity at even the earliest-stage funded startups.
Second, your chances of making it big on equity alone are pitifully small. The expected returns on startup equity is less than the salary cut you take when compared with the stable job at Big Co. The median return is zero.
If you were bootstrapping your own startup with only ramen profitability, I would have mad respect for you. But you say you aren't even working on your own startup right now. Wherever you are working you are likely very underpaid for what you are doing.
If you are in the lucky minority, be honest with yourself and put money aside while it lasts. I have friends for whom it didn't.
Even worse the source document has far more interesting data on it, sorting by gender/age/location. Even if it is a self serving study by a service that is in the business of selling savings accounts.
The data is pretty scary though. After finally getting a 6 month runway of living expenses I can't imagine going back. Even having a month or two runway makes it so easy to not make unreasonable mistakes.
Ofcourse public health care is free here and education is still affordable and there is a social security safety net and compulsory superannuation payments. So it isn't like a family sickness will see us lose our home and sleeping under a bridge.