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

[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.

Right. I don't know of anyone who is not making money now, and I am working class in the Midwest. My Facebook feed us chock full of people going on trips and out to dinner.

[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.

Nope. We have SS and it’s a mess.


We need a better economy and to ban the Fed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

And Auto Repos are at record high as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Right. I don't know of anyone who is not making money now, and I am working class in the Midwest. My Facebook feed us chock full of people going on trips and out to dinner.

Facebook is where you get your economic analysis and data?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

And Auto Repos are at record high as well.

Did you miss the part about how the resumption of college loan payments is a likely culprit?

Biden did his damnedest to help there, but who blocked him?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

And Auto Repos are at record high as well.

Did you miss the part about how the resumption of college loan payments is a likely culprit?

Biden did his damnedest to help there, but who blocked him?

With car repossessions and home foreclosures rising, some Americans are living on a financial cliff

A growing number of Americans have found themselves strapped for cash and looking for financial relief as the U.S. economy slows down.

A 57-year-old single mother living in East Hartford, Connecticut, LeSage needs to drive herself to medical appointments for injuries on her legs and to pick up her teenage daughter, who often suffers from seizures, from school.

"I have to go pick her up,” LeSage says. Without the vehicle, she adds, "I wouldn’t be able to do that.”

But last year, LeSage was told her car was at risk of repossession after she fell behind on the payments.

“For me, every penny counts and just to lose a couple of cents on gas is devastating sometimes,” LeSage says.

LeSage is among a growing number of Americans who have found themselves confronting financial hardship as the U.S. economy has slowed. On Thursday, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reported gross domestic product fell to 1.1% in the first quarter, the lowest reading in nine months. The GDP is the value of the final goods and services produced in the country and a strong indicator of how healthy the U.S. economy.

The slowdown is starting to show up in Americans' personal finances. According to a recent survey from Bankrate, 49% of U.S. adults have less savings compared to a year ago. Ten percent of those surveyed said they have no savings at all.

The upshot: The most disastrous outcomes for U.S. households, like auto repossessions and home foreclosures, have begun to climb.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna80638

Soft landing.

[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.

Expect people to stop shooting themselves in the foot and to stop voting for the right wing that makes wealth inequality worse.

In fact, if you look at the facts of the situation, wealth inequality is improving slightly under Biden. That has never happened and will never happen under a Republican.

[Anonymous]

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.

Wealth disparity in America is increasing. It's kind of ironic how for years Republicans have been screeching about "wealth redistribution" as if there's a big scheme to steal money from the rich and pass it out to the poor when in fact it's the exact opposite - the middle class is having its wealth stolen and redistributed to the richest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Aggregate savings peaked at $2.1 trillion in August 2021. As of June, the San Francisco Fed estimated that aggregate savings had dropped to $190 billion.

In other words, Americans have blown through $1.9 trillion in savings in just two years.

With savings exhausted and credit cards maxed out, consumers have little choice but to stop spending.

This undercuts the notion that the Fed can slay price inflation while simultaneously bringing the economy to a “soft landing.”

The bottom line is that Americans turned to their savings accounts and credit cards because they didn’t have any other way to make ends meet with soaring price inflation. People don’t spend all of their savings and run up their Visa balance month after month to buy groceries when they are in “very strong” financial shape.

So they oft repeated mantra here that Americans and the economy are financially stable and in good shape is completely false.

The savings peak was because of the Cares Act and PPP paying people to stay home so they had full income but weren’t spending it. Then they spent that money in the economy when everything reopened. My daughter built up savings while furloughed and then used to for grad school.

[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.

Wealth disparity in America is increasing. It's kind of ironic how for years Republicans have been screeching about "wealth redistribution" as if there's a big scheme to steal money from the rich and pass it out to the poor when in fact it's the exact opposite - the middle class is having its wealth stolen and redistributed to the richest.

Exactly. And the lower middle class is just completely screwed. All to help billionaires and the one percent.

[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.

Wealth disparity in America is increasing. It's kind of ironic how for years Republicans have been screeching about "wealth redistribution" as if there's a big scheme to steal money from the rich and pass it out to the poor when in fact it's the exact opposite - the middle class is having its wealth stolen and redistributed to the richest.

And, we'll remind you that Biden is president....... wealth disparity is increasing under Biden.

[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.

Wealth disparity in America is increasing. It's kind of ironic how for years Republicans have been screeching about "wealth redistribution" as if there's a big scheme to steal money from the rich and pass it out to the poor when in fact it's the exact opposite - the middle class is having its wealth stolen and redistributed to the richest.

Yes, this. And costs of groceries increased sharply and has not gone back down. Biden made some noise a week or so ago about grocery stores price gorging. I wish he'd push this message...and also lump the food brands in their as well since it's not all the grocery stores fault.

And healthcare costs are still a struggle despite Obamacare. More people are covered which is great, but the out of pocket costs for working people receiving their healthcare through workplaces has increased.

Meanwhile, the Fed's policy of easy money/low interest rates (even the higher rates of the past year are still quite low by historical standards) has been great for the stock market and business expansion, but also has harmed those on fixed incomes.

Biden is facing a lot of issues in addition to the inequalities that have only widen under his Presidency: his foreign policy stances are polarizing and supporting Israel's outsized response in Gaza is not a good look, immigration both legal and illegal is now front in center in solid Blue states, his frequency of misstatements (ie mixing up Egypt and Mexico) and how that highlights the weakness of his older age, etc, etc.

I'm certainly not voting for Trump, but I am not excited for Biden and I think he is in a lot of trouble.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?

Who said they were?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

And Auto Repos are at record high as well.

Did you miss the part about how the resumption of college loan payments is a likely culprit?

Biden did his damnedest to help there, but who blocked him?

With car repossessions and home foreclosures rising, some Americans are living on a financial cliff

[…]
Soft landing.

And what would the GOP do differently?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Wealth disparity in America is increasing. It's kind of ironic how for years Republicans have been screeching about "wealth redistribution" as if there's a big scheme to steal money from the rich and pass it out to the poor when in fact it's the exact opposite - the middle class is having its wealth stolen and redistributed to the richest.

And, we'll remind you that Biden is president....... wealth disparity is increasing under Biden.

Well right, because Congress sabotages everything, on Trump's orders no less. It's like the Big Orange Menace is still President.

Our family's financial situation got much better around 2015 and has been steady since then, although the rising cost of daycare is just brutal. But we bought our home in 2011 and our mortgage is very reasonable. Makes a huge difference.

But this is just a harder country to be poor or working class. It always has been. Bootstrap nation.

I'm a liberal voter but I think it's time for the elites to realize that it doesn't matter why people perceive the economy as better under Trump. They should just try to address it in ways that they care. Because voter opinions aren't really based on true facts. That's just how it is.