Gen Xers Don't Save

Harris: 27% of Americans Have No Personal Savings

Posted by Michael • February 7, 2011

If you’re a money-stats junkie like me, you live for figures like these from this recent Harris Poll:

PR Newswire: More Americans Report No Personal or Retirement Savings

Amazing, I know. Even though our economy just surged through a dotGov-sponsored Recovery Summer™, it seems that as of November, 2010, fewer of us reported having any personal or retirement savings.

Here’s one of the survey’s more salient points to consider, if you’re a Gen Xer (as I am):

Generationally, one-in-four (25%) Baby Boomers (aged 46-64) have no retirement savings, with 22% of Matures (aged 65 and over) stating the same. Gen Xers (aged 34-45) are struggling with more immediate issues; 32% have no personal savings.

When one in three 34-to-45-year-olds reports having no personal savings, then you know our consume-it-all economic setup is working precisely as designed. And as one of the accompanying tables shows, the same percentage of Gen Xers report having no retirement savings.

Couple this sort of data with that from other late-2010 surveys — CareerBuilder, for instance, found that 77 percent of us survive paycheck-to-paycheck, even $100k earners — and the picture that emerges is downright scary.

5 Responses to "Harris: 27% of Americans Have No Personal Savings" ...

On February 7, 2011 @ 10:40 pm,
Mary T wrote:

#1

Perhaps one reason they have no savings is due to the astronomical student loans they are repaying…
On February 16, 2011 @ 10:02 am,
Determined wrote:

#2

My parents have NO savings or retirement. It is sad to see my dad working so hard and knowing there is no end in sight. I started a IRA account 6 years ago. I’ve made a lot of financial mistakes, so I happy to say that saving for retirement is one thing I’ve done right!
On February 28, 2011 @ 10:15 pm,
vince wrote:

#3

work hard and save your money and hope your still healthy at 70 and up.
what a joke, it not what you save ,it’s what you got coming in(money) with out you doing 9-5.
On March 13, 2011 @ 6:28 pm,
Debt Donkey wrote:

#4

This is eye-opening, a real paradigm shift in the way we think about and manage money. My grandmother recently died at age 94. She saved everything she could, and thus was fairly well provided for in her old age and even left a small inheritance to the family. She and my grandfather never made a whole lot and lived modestly, but they were smart enough to save all they could. I’m determined to follow in her footsteps.
On April 14, 2011 @ 5:55 pm,
ross jackson wrote:

#5

I recently went through a six month period where i was having a serious cash flow problem and at the end of the month after all bills were paid, i would literally have a few hundred dollars in my personal account.

It’s a really tough way to live, I’ve never felt so stressed out in my life. I hated the feeling towards the end of the month, when you have to move money around to make sure all the check clear.

But i’m out of that now, and i feel really good.

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