{"id":5465,"date":"2016-10-10T15:18:54","date_gmt":"2016-10-10T21:18:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=5465"},"modified":"2016-10-10T06:30:28","modified_gmt":"2016-10-10T12:30:28","slug":"62-of-americans-have-less-than-1000-in-savings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/10\/62-of-americans-have-less-than-1000-in-savings.html","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;62% of Americans have less than $1,000 in savings&#8221;?"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-5466\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/533\/2016\/10\/Money_Cash-1024x681.jpg\" alt=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File%3AMoney_Cash.jpg; By Jericho [CC BY 3.0 (http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons\" width=\"565\" height=\"376\"><\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s what the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/money\/personalfinance\/2016\/10\/09\/savings-study\/91083712\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">USA Today reports<\/a>, based on a survey by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gobankingrates.com\/personal-finance\/data-americans-savings\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">GoBankingRates.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Except that\u2019s not actually what the survey revealed.<\/p>\n<p>The survey asked a much more specific question: \u00a0\u201cHow much money do you have saved in your savings account?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And the answers were:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>34% \u2013 $0<\/li>\n<li>35% \u2013 more than $0 but less than $1,000<\/li>\n<li>11% \u2013 from\u00a0$1,000 to\u00a0$5,000<\/li>\n<li>4% \u2013 from $5,000 to $10,000<\/li>\n<li>15% \u2013 $10,000 or more.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>What\u2019s more, far more women than men report a $0 balance \u2014 42% vs. 28%. \u00a0And as you might expect, young people and the poor are more likely to report a $0 balance.<\/p>\n<p>But is this the end of the story? \u00a0The question did not ask, \u201chow much money do you have saved?\u201d but very specifically asked about a \u201csavings account,\u201d which people can interpret in different ways.<\/p>\n<p>Does a checking account merit a \u201cyes\u201d?<\/p>\n<p>What about a quasi-bank account \u201creloadable debit card,\u201d which is becoming a common means of paying low wage employees via direct deposit to the card, if the individual has a net credit on the card from month-to-month?<\/p>\n<p>What about a 401(k) at work?<\/p>\n<p>What about the proverbial cash under the mattress?<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, if you owe (say, in credit card debt) more than you have saved, how would you answer that question?<\/p>\n<p>According to a recent <a href=\"http:\/\/fortune.com\/2016\/09\/08\/unbanked-americans-fdic\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Fortune article<\/a>, the number of \u201cunbanked\u201d Americans, as calculated by the FDIC, has been declining, from 7.6% in 2009 (the first year the figure was calculated) to an even 7% in 2015. \u00a0The FDIC also calculates a figure for \u201cunderbanked\u201d Americans, which refers to individuals who have bank accounts but also use payday lenders, pawn brokers, etc., and that has been a consistent 20%.<\/p>\n<p>Which means that it\u2019s simply\u00a0impossible for 34% of Americans to have a flat nothing in savings, in any form. \u00a0You can\u2019t have a bank account without any money in it at all. \u00a0So don\u2019t trust that figure, and look elsewhere for a meaningful analysis.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Image:\u00a0https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File%3AMoney_Cash.jpg; By Jericho [CC BY 3.0 (http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>That\u2019s what the USA Today reports, based on a survey by GoBankingRates.com. Except that\u2019s not actually what the survey revealed. The survey asked a much more specific question: \u00a0\u201cHow much money do you have saved in your savings account?\u201d And the answers were: 34% \u2013 $0 35% \u2013 more than $0 but less than $1,000 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":5466,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[475,473,474],"class_list":["post-5465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-banking","tag-financial-literacy","tag-savings"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>&quot;62% of Americans have less than $1,000 in savings&quot;?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"That&#039;s what the USA Today reports, based on a survey by GoBankingRates.com. 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The survey asked a much\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/10\/62-of-americans-have-less-than-1000-in-savings.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-10-10T21:18:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-10-10T12:30:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/533\/2016\/10\/Money_Cash.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"511\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jane the Actuary\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/10\/62-of-americans-have-less-than-1000-in-savings.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/10\/62-of-americans-have-less-than-1000-in-savings.html\",\"name\":\"\\\"62% of Americans have less than $1,000 in savings\\\"?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-10-10T21:18:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-10-10T12:30:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/#\/schema\/person\/ed9b99e0bd58c5eeeebae6b82fa5a77a\"},\"description\":\"That's what the USA Today reports, based on a survey by GoBankingRates.com. 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