In the FinancialVerse, we talk about the need to save cash as part of your household emergency fund, retirement savings, college accounts for your kids or grandkids or for that travel fund for that dream trip to Scotland. We try to provide you with rules of thumb for how much you should accumulate. The folks at bankrate.com have read our posts and have offered some additional information for our subscribers.
They have told us that despite the best efforts of households, many bank accounts hold far less cash than U.S. consumers would need to cover even a few months without income, according to an analysis of federal data. The median transaction account balance is $5,300, according to the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF), conducted most recently in 2019. Transaction accounts include savings, checking, money market and call accounts, as well as prepaid debit cards.
Singles and younger adults tend to have less, according to the inflation-adjusted Federal Reserve data.
How Much Does the Average Household Have in Savings?
While the median bank account balance is $5,300, according to the latest SCF data, the average — or mean — balance is actually much higher, at $41,600. The median balance may give a clearer picture of how much most U.S. households have saved, since the average figure can be skewed significantly by a small number of outliers with high account balances.
Average U.S. Savings Account Balance
Median bank account balance | Mean bank account balance |
|---|---|
$5,300 | $41,600 |
Average Savings by Age
Households with older individuals tend to have higher account balances — up to about three times as high — than younger households. One exception is households with individuals ages 45 to 54, who had higher median balances than those with members ages 55 to 63.
Age | Median Bank Account Balance | Mean Bank Account Balance |
|---|---|---|
<35 | $3,240 | $11,250 |
35-44 | $4,710 | $27,910 |
45-54 | $6,400 | $48,200 |
55-64 | $5,620 | $57,670 |
65-74 | $8,000 | $60,410 |
>74 | $9,300 | $55,320 |
Please go to Bankrate for the full article and information presented.
Summary
Cash is what we all need to pay living expenses and all the extras in life. How is your household doing? Has the recent spike in inflation negatively impacted your budget? Take some time to read the FinancialVerse blog and books for ideas on how you can grow your cash balance.
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