Slow and Steady Wins the Race I guess...
I've heard for several years about the number of Americans with less than $1000 in savings and that number gets more alarming as inflation makes $1000 less than it used to be. An online discussion led me to look up the most recent statistics on the matter and I found this Forbes article ( https://www.forbes.com/advisor/banking/savings/average-american-savings/ ).
From the article: "According to our survey, roughly 28% of Americans across all four generations currently have less than $1,000 in personal savings, including emergency funds, non-workplace retirement accounts and investments. With the average national rent price sitting at $1,372, having less than a grand tucked away means many Americans are teetering on the edge of financial instability, with little cushion to absorb unexpected expenses.
Undoubtedly, age plays a big role in the amount of savings one has—older generations typically have more money saved, as they've had more time to accumulate wealth. Our survey found that the majority of Gen Zers (54%) and Millennials (52%) have less than $5,000 saved, compared to 42% of Gen X respondents and 29% of Baby Boomers.
Unsurprisingly, the oldest generation—Baby Boomers—have amassed the most impressive savings balances. Our survey revealed that around 17% of Baby Boomers have more than $500,000 saved, while that figure dwindles to just 4% among both Gen Xers and Millennials and a mere 2% among Gen Zers."
(This only tracks through Boomers. My dad is technically in the "Silent Generation" and the "Greatest Generation" is hanging in there: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation#Social_generation Lot of wealth is more concentrated with elderly.)
I tend to sit on the cusp between Gen X and Millenial. I think of myself as the baby of Gen X, but newer articles would put me as a Millennial elder. I started this blog in my late 20s, and I'm now in my early 40s. I was a saver even as a kid. I took off a year between high school and college just to save money. College definitely took a big chunk out of my savings, and to have time to do my writing and creative work, I've mainly stuck with low income jobs, often part time.
Prior to the pandemic, I had my first full time job with benefits at a daycare and worked that for two years or so before the housefire and pandemic prompted me to make a more domestic shift. These days I'm homeschooling my nephew, helping my aging parents around the house and working a part time job for spending money. But despite other frustrations and set backs, I have kept up my savers habits.
I do think I'll make another post to talk about insurance, but the money I got back from insurance was not more than I would have been able to save by continuing to work my full time job and keeping expenses down by living with family.
But it's surreal looking at this and seeing that my total savings puts me in the upper 26% to 40% of my generation (depending on where Forbes put their cut off). What the Forbes article does not factor in is property and other tangible assets, and if you factor in home equity and collections, I might not be as high up on the comparison chart. I think at this point my total cash assets are similar to my brother's, but he managed to buy a house before the market went crazy, so he has equity in his property that I don't. (Debt is another factor, if you have $10,000 in savings but $100,000 in debt, you may have far less net worth than someone with less than $1000 in savings but no debt.)
I've been thinking about doing an update for how I'm progressing, and that may be the next post for length reasons.
But if you're tight/struggling, you're not alone. And we should acknowledge currently not having $1000 doesn't always mean you're irresponsible with money. The job hunting process seems to drag out for a lot of people right now, and if you burned through a 6-month emergency fund because job loss or an emergency came up that's what the emergency fund is for.
However, I think the chart does strongly demonstrated how wealth tends to build over time for those who are building it. Yes, the wealth you're born into certainly makes a difference. We're not all starting at the same point, but most people who build wealth are doing so over time and not starting out with it.
From the article: "According to our survey, roughly 28% of Americans across all four generations currently have less than $1,000 in personal savings, including emergency funds, non-workplace retirement accounts and investments. With the average national rent price sitting at $1,372, having less than a grand tucked away means many Americans are teetering on the edge of financial instability, with little cushion to absorb unexpected expenses.
Undoubtedly, age plays a big role in the amount of savings one has—older generations typically have more money saved, as they've had more time to accumulate wealth. Our survey found that the majority of Gen Zers (54%) and Millennials (52%) have less than $5,000 saved, compared to 42% of Gen X respondents and 29% of Baby Boomers.
Unsurprisingly, the oldest generation—Baby Boomers—have amassed the most impressive savings balances. Our survey revealed that around 17% of Baby Boomers have more than $500,000 saved, while that figure dwindles to just 4% among both Gen Xers and Millennials and a mere 2% among Gen Zers."
(This only tracks through Boomers. My dad is technically in the "Silent Generation" and the "Greatest Generation" is hanging in there: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation#Social_generation Lot of wealth is more concentrated with elderly.)
I tend to sit on the cusp between Gen X and Millenial. I think of myself as the baby of Gen X, but newer articles would put me as a Millennial elder. I started this blog in my late 20s, and I'm now in my early 40s. I was a saver even as a kid. I took off a year between high school and college just to save money. College definitely took a big chunk out of my savings, and to have time to do my writing and creative work, I've mainly stuck with low income jobs, often part time.
Prior to the pandemic, I had my first full time job with benefits at a daycare and worked that for two years or so before the housefire and pandemic prompted me to make a more domestic shift. These days I'm homeschooling my nephew, helping my aging parents around the house and working a part time job for spending money. But despite other frustrations and set backs, I have kept up my savers habits.
I do think I'll make another post to talk about insurance, but the money I got back from insurance was not more than I would have been able to save by continuing to work my full time job and keeping expenses down by living with family.
But it's surreal looking at this and seeing that my total savings puts me in the upper 26% to 40% of my generation (depending on where Forbes put their cut off). What the Forbes article does not factor in is property and other tangible assets, and if you factor in home equity and collections, I might not be as high up on the comparison chart. I think at this point my total cash assets are similar to my brother's, but he managed to buy a house before the market went crazy, so he has equity in his property that I don't. (Debt is another factor, if you have $10,000 in savings but $100,000 in debt, you may have far less net worth than someone with less than $1000 in savings but no debt.)
I've been thinking about doing an update for how I'm progressing, and that may be the next post for length reasons.
But if you're tight/struggling, you're not alone. And we should acknowledge currently not having $1000 doesn't always mean you're irresponsible with money. The job hunting process seems to drag out for a lot of people right now, and if you burned through a 6-month emergency fund because job loss or an emergency came up that's what the emergency fund is for.
However, I think the chart does strongly demonstrated how wealth tends to build over time for those who are building it. Yes, the wealth you're born into certainly makes a difference. We're not all starting at the same point, but most people who build wealth are doing so over time and not starting out with it.
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