62 Percent of Americans Have Less Than $1,000 in Savings

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A new study by GoBankingRates shows a very troubling trend for Americans: They’re not saving their money.

In fact, the study found that 62 percent have less than $1,000 in savings. Here’s how it breaks down:

• 28 percent have $0 in savings.
• 21 percent don’t have a savings account.
• 13 percent have less than $1,000.

For the record, some people are doing well, like those who have $10,000 or more in savings (14 percent of the population), and those who have $5,000 to $9,000 (5 percent.)

But what about millennials? Although they’re often considered the most savings-conscious generation (probably because they watched older generations fumble with their cash), they aren’t doing much better.

The study breaks down millennials into two categories: Young millennials (18-24) and older millennials (25-34.) For younger millennials, 21.8 percent have $0 in their savings accounts and 22.4 percent don’t have a savings account. In the older group, 26.3 percent have $0 in savings and 18 percent don’t have savings accounts. Kind of amazing right?

Sure, millennial incomes are stagnant, they’re facing mountains of student loan debt but they’ve still got to put away something. But many millennials are resigned to the fact that they aren’t going to be better off than their parents. In fact, 47 percent of 18- to 35-year-olds don’t expect their generation to live better than their parents, according to a Bloomberg poll.

But there are plenty of ways to manage your money — even if you’re young. A good place to start is this article from Money titled “10 Things to Know About Money Before You’re 30.” A few helpful hints:

• Negotiate your salary: “In addition to making you look good, asking for higher wages early on can make a huge difference in your lifetime earnings: Even just a 5 percent raise at age 22 can net you almost $200,000 in extra wealth by retirement.”
• Don’t ignore your debt: “Take a page from the behavioral finance book and focus on tackling small balances first . The so-called “snowball” method works because the small victories of paying off lower-balance debts first help to motivate you to keep going.”

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