Nearly half of Americans have $500 or less in their savings accounts

[Anonymous]

Whose fault is it if people can’t be bothered to save? Is America a communist country?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Whose fault is it if people can’t be bothered to save? Is America a communist country?

Democrats: screw the working class!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And Trump's plans to make anything better?

We are still waiting for his "beautiful" healthcare plan.

He already showed Americans he had better plans and implemented those plans. That’s why the average American was able to save money while he was president.

Bullshit.

"How much to put into savings—long a subject of kitchen-table discussions— was a question of renewed interest among Americans as the country encountered the coronavirus pandemic.

Entering the second quarter of 2020, Americans’ fears of the pandemic were ramping up amid record job losses and the worst economy since the Great Depression. Those without jobs wondered how they would pay bills, while those with jobs either stopped spending or, at least, found fewer places to spend" --https://www.kansascityfed.org/ten/2021-spring-ten-magazine/study-shows-surge-in-savings-during-the-pandemic/ , published April 29, 2021.

Those who remained working and worked from home didn't have commuter expenses. Day care centers closed and the kids were all home. Those who ordinarily travelled for recreation didn't. Virtually everyone got a stimulus payment. People who were unemployed, in some cases, had more income while unemployed. Meanwhile, businesses received extra cash from the government. Gasoline costs plummeted because nobody was driving (for awhile, wholesale oil and gas prices were NEGATIVE because there was no place to store it all, and wells could not be shut down overnight). Many purchases were delayed during ongoing supply chain issues (I considered buying a freezer in 2021--something I have often pondered but have not taken a firm step towards, I'm generally a lazy procrastinator when thinking about buying stuff--I was told they were not taking orders since they had orders from a YEAR ago they were still waiting to fill, and they needed to keep their floor models. The company whose contract I was working on at the time had a huge bottleneck in PC refresh for its employees because they couldn't get the computers).

Since then, those temporary sources of extra income vanished. People had to pay for daycare again. People travelled. The hospitality industry exploded. And, yes, inflation--for many reasons.

There is another factor, I think, for people who ordinarily are not able to save much. Having extra money in the bank is a powerful motivator to keep saving while you can.

Nobody seems to remember all the people complaining on here about how their nannies and housecleaners were making more money not working than they had working during those days.

[Anonymous]

OP better not browse the finance forum, lol....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And Trump's plans to make anything better?

We are still waiting for his "beautiful" healthcare plan.

He already showed Americans he had better plans and implemented those plans. That’s why the average American was able to save money while he was president.

Bullcrap.

Lots of people were able to save because Trump and the Republicans sent them COVID money. Many poorer Americans had never gotten that much money at one time. They were also able to get unemployment.

So that was COVID-19 specific and not Trump's grand plan.

Sep 22, 2019
Americans are saving at an unusually high level after Trump's tax cuts

The date this was written: 22 September 2019.



All first stimulus checks were issued by December 31, 2020.

The record savings accumulated by Americans was pre-covid stimulus.

You are wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And Trump's plans to make anything better?

We are still waiting for his "beautiful" healthcare plan.

He already showed Americans he had better plans and implemented those plans. That’s why the average American was able to save money while he was president.

Bullshit.

"How much to put into savings—long a subject of kitchen-table discussions— was a question of renewed interest among Americans as the country encountered the coronavirus pandemic.

Entering the second quarter of 2020, Americans’ fears of the pandemic were ramping up amid record job losses and the worst economy since the Great Depression. Those without jobs wondered how they would pay bills, while those with jobs either stopped spending or, at least, found fewer places to spend" --https://www.kansascityfed.org/ten/2021-spring-ten-magazine/study-shows-surge-in-savings-during-the-pandemic/ , published April 29, 2021.

Those who remained working and worked from home didn't have commuter expenses. Day care centers closed and the kids were all home. Those who ordinarily travelled for recreation didn't. Virtually everyone got a stimulus payment. People who were unemployed, in some cases, had more income while unemployed. Meanwhile, businesses received extra cash from the government. Gasoline costs plummeted because nobody was driving (for awhile, wholesale oil and gas prices were NEGATIVE because there was no place to store it all, and wells could not be shut down overnight). Many purchases were delayed during ongoing supply chain issues (I considered buying a freezer in 2021--something I have often pondered but have not taken a firm step towards, I'm generally a lazy procrastinator when thinking about buying stuff--I was told they were not taking orders since they had orders from a YEAR ago they were still waiting to fill, and they needed to keep their floor models. The company whose contract I was working on at the time had a huge bottleneck in PC refresh for its employees because they couldn't get the computers).

Since then, those temporary sources of extra income vanished. People had to pay for daycare again. People travelled. The hospitality industry exploded. And, yes, inflation--for many reasons.

There is another factor, I think, for people who ordinarily are not able to save much. Having extra money in the bank is a powerful motivator to keep saving while you can.

Nobody seems to remember all the people complaining on here about how their nannies and housecleaners were making more money not working than they had working during those days.

“However, the personal-saving rate continued to rise to an average of 8.2% in the first 7 months of 2019 — despite U.S. consumers experiencing historic levels of confidence in the economy.
In total, savings outpaced spending and investing in 2018.“

pre-covid, your theory is incorrect and you are ranting uselessly, thanks.

[Anonymous]

People aren’t not saving money just because of the high cost of living. They’re not saving because we’ve all be trained to constantly buy crap we don’t need. Our high levels of consumerism is the source of our strong economy. If you’ve lived in other countries, as I have, you will quickly see that, while people everywhere like to shop or at least window shop, they don’t have as much junk as we do. They don’t have Amazon packages arriving every few days, they aren’t making frequent Costco and Target “runs” and filling their homes with months of supplies, etc etc. Granted, one reason is that they tend to have smaller homes than we do, but they also aren’t as shopping/spending crazy as we are. Spending too much and saving too little is literally built into our consumer society.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People aren’t not saving money just because of the high cost of living. They’re not saving because we’ve all be trained to constantly buy crap we don’t need. Our high levels of consumerism is the source of our strong economy. If you’ve lived in other countries, as I have, you will quickly see that, while people everywhere like to shop or at least window shop, they don’t have as much junk as we do. They don’t have Amazon packages arriving every few days, they aren’t making frequent Costco and Target “runs” and filling their homes with months of supplies, etc etc. Granted, one reason is that they tend to have smaller homes than we do, but they also aren’t as shopping/spending crazy as we are. Spending too much and saving too little is literally built into our consumer society.

Ok, so why were Americans savings at record levels PRE-COVID under the Trump administration?

[Anonymous]

The people should be forced to deposit their earnings in a safe central bank account backed by the federal government. The government will allow you to withdraw a certain percentage. If accounts get too low, we can rebalance from accounts with excess funds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You're telling this to DCUM where people with HHIs of $600k describe themselves as middle class. Expect no empathy or understanding.

"middle class"? more like working poor

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The people should be forced to deposit their earnings in a safe central bank account backed by the federal government. The government will allow you to withdraw a certain percentage. If accounts get too low, we can rebalance from accounts with excess funds.

Ok, so why were Americans savings at record levels PRE-COVID under the Trump administration?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.cnbc.com/2024/01/24/how-much-money-americans-have-in-savings.html

Nearly half of Americans have $500 or less in their savings accounts, an amount that leaves them vulnerable to unexpected expenses, according to a GOBankingRates survey of 1,063 U.S. adults conducted in November 2023.


Few hold much cash in their checking accounts as well. Of those surveyed, 60% report having $500 or less in their checking accounts, while only about 12% have $2,001 or more.

The lack of cash in either savings or checking accounts suggests that many Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. This leaves them vulnerable to unexpected expenses, underscoring the importance of having an emergency fund, if they’re able to build one.


https://www.cnbc.com/2024/01/24/how-much-money-americans-have-in-savings.html

The cost of living has decimated many American families. I don’t think our country is doing well if people are unable to save $500.00.

—————>
Americans are saving at an unusually high level after Trump's tax cuts

Americans have been socking away an unusually high rate of their income since the Great Recession, which economists warn could become harmful to the economy over an extended period of time, according to the Wall Street Journal.

https://www.axios.com/2019/09/22/saving-rate-trump-tax-cuts


But of course, during the Trump administration, it was bad, very bad for the economy, for people to be able to save their own money. People should not be able to save their own money.

Your link doesn’t say that more people built up savings after Trump’s tax cuts. It says that the people who already had savings built up more savings after their taxes were cut. No shit. Trump only helped the people who did not need help.

Bull.

Income data published by the IRS clearly show that on average all income brackets benefited substantially from the Republicans’ tax reform law, with the biggest beneficiaries being working and middle-income filers, not the top 1 percent, as so many Democrats have argued.

A careful analysis of the IRS tax data, one that includes the effects of tax credits and other reforms to the tax code, shows that filers with an adjusted gross income (AGI) of $15,000 to $50,000 enjoyed an average tax cut of 16 percent to 26 percent in 2018, the first year Republicans’ Tax Cuts and Jobs Act went into effect and the most recent year for which data is available.

Filers who earned $50,000 to $100,000 received a tax break of about 15 percent to 17 percent, and those earning $100,000 to $500,000 in adjusted gross income saw their personal income taxes cut by around 11 percent to 13 percent.

By comparison, no income group with an AGI of at least $500,000 received an average tax cut exceeding 9 percent, and the average tax cut for brackets starting at $1 million was less than 6 percent. (For more detailed data, see my table published here.)

That means most middle-income and working-class earners enjoyed a tax cut that was at least double the size of tax cuts received by households earning $1 million or more.

https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/584190-irs-data-prove-trump-tax-cuts-benefited-middle-working-class-americans-most/

[Anonymous]

It is not surprising that people are saving less given that credit card debt is at record highs.

In order to make ends meet, people tap savings first, then turn to credit cards.

"More people are carrying more credit card debt for longer periods of time. We're talking record high balances, record high interest rates,” Ted Rossman, a Bankrate senior industry analyst, said. “It's a tough combination, unfortunately."

A report released Tuesday by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said credit card balances rose to a new high of $1.3 trillion in the final three months of 2023.

And credit card and auto loan delinquencies pushed past pre-pandemic levels, to their highest levels in more than a decade.

https://www.wdsu.com/article/credit-card-debt-squeezing-consumers/46675280#:~:text=combination%2C%20unfortunately.%22-,A%20report%20released%20Tuesday%20by%20the%20Federal%20Reserve%20Bank%20of,in%20more%20than%20a%20decade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People aren’t not saving money just because of the high cost of living. They’re not saving because we’ve all be trained to constantly buy crap we don’t need. Our high levels of consumerism is the source of our strong economy. If you’ve lived in other countries, as I have, you will quickly see that, while people everywhere like to shop or at least window shop, they don’t have as much junk as we do. They don’t have Amazon packages arriving every few days, they aren’t making frequent Costco and Target “runs” and filling their homes with months of supplies, etc etc. Granted, one reason is that they tend to have smaller homes than we do, but they also aren’t as shopping/spending crazy as we are. Spending too much and saving too little is literally built into our consumer society.

Ok, so why were Americans savings at record levels PRE-COVID under the Trump administration?

I don’t know that to be true. Can you provide a link?

Our spending habits have little to do with who is president. They are baked into our culture. During Covid people saved money because they weren’t going out of their homes as much. Then, when things started opening up, they started spending again and many blew through their savings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People aren’t not saving money just because of the high cost of living. They’re not saving because we’ve all be trained to constantly buy crap we don’t need. Our high levels of consumerism is the source of our strong economy. If you’ve lived in other countries, as I have, you will quickly see that, while people everywhere like to shop or at least window shop, they don’t have as much junk as we do. They don’t have Amazon packages arriving every few days, they aren’t making frequent Costco and Target “runs” and filling their homes with months of supplies, etc etc. Granted, one reason is that they tend to have smaller homes than we do, but they also aren’t as shopping/spending crazy as we are. Spending too much and saving too little is literally built into our consumer society.

Ok, so why were Americans savings at record levels PRE-COVID under the Trump administration?

I don’t know that to be true. Can you provide a link?

Our spending habits have little to do with who is president. They are baked into our culture. During Covid people saved money because they weren’t going out of their homes as much. Then, when things started opening up, they started spending again and many blew through their savings.

https://www.axios.com/2019/09/22/saving-rate-trump-tax-cuts

This was pre-Covid.