20% of Americans don’t have any savings

A recent report says Americans are unwary when it comes to saving or investing money.  According to the latest survey by Bankrate.com, around 20% of the US working population is not in the habit of saving money, despite the boost in the economy. Why does this happen and when did this trend emerge?

As per the survey, higher expenses were stated as the biggest obstacle for not saving enough money.  Nearly 39% of the respondents blamed rising expenses for being under-saved, while close to 16% said their jobs did not allow them to save enough. Over 13% were burdened with debt due to which they could not save even a single dime.

These findings come in support of another recent study by WalletHub’s, which reported that Americans had stacked around $92.2 billion in credit card debt, due to which outstanding balances crossed $1 trillion for the first time ever. The study was based on data released by the Federal Reserve.

In fact, the rate at which Americans are saving money is said to be at the slowest pace in a decade. The total personal savings rate in 2017 was just 2.4%, much lower than 10.4% in 1960, according to data from the Commerce Department.

The rate at which Americans are saving money is said to be at the slowest pace in a decade.

In a similar report earlier, GoBankingRates found that about 42% of Americans had set aside less than $10,000 as their retirement savings. Also, Bankrate had previously noted that millennials comprised a major chunk of the financially vulnerable community, as the adults were more or less seen serious about saving for retirement as well as emergencies.