Can this be true??

[Broken Arrow]

Re: Can this be true??

Kris10Leigh -- I'm a reporter working on a story about candy in schools -- saw your post on this on another forum. Can I e-mail you a question off forum?

You may be who you say you are, but just for the sake of general safety, can you please provide some information about yourself? For example, what is your name and what paper do you work for?

[Gruntina]

Re: Can this be true??

Honestly, I have had savings account but have been in and out of them throughout the years. I dont know anyone in my family that has a saving account. (hearsay info only)

[thekid]

Re: Can this be true??

Things might be quite different here in Canada. I don't think I've ever known anybody without a savings/checking account. It's not a place to leave substantial amounts in, but it is used by almost everyone I know to deposit cheques, direct deposit salary, make purchases with debit cards, make monthly payments from, etc. From my experience, not having such a account to "centralize" these ongoing operations would really complicate things.

[greedy4chips]

Re: Can this be true??

80% does seem a bit high, but when you figure in all the people without any savings whatsoever and those who are too rich to want a paltry return on a savings account I can actually see where they get the 80% figure. What I cannot believe is that so many people 35 and older have never had a savings acct. There used to be a time when all savings accts paid in excess of 5%, of course mortgages were twice that amount. Perhaps some people's idea of a savings acct is paying off their mortgage faster...nah. I just think too many people have so little left over after paying the bills and investing in retirement they don't have anything left for a savings (deflating) account.

[Ima saver]

Re: Can this be true??

When i work in a savings and loan, our regular savings account paid 6% and our daily one paid 5.25%
Our workers really are paid pretty decent for this area. His main worker is paid $18 and could work 15 hours a day, 7 days a week, if he wanted to. My husband has not been out of a construction job in 22 years, so they could make decent money.
His main worker is in his late 40's, has no checking or savings account and still lives at home for free!

[b4freedom]

Re: Can this be true??

I believe it.

Who here has a savings account? If so, I'd say dump it! Savings accounts are not dated. Go with a money market or something better.

http://www.americasaves.org/back_page/forego.cfm

[Gruntina]

Re: Can this be true??

I wonder also for those that are not educated in money don't bother with a savings account since they think a checking account is sufficient to put"saved" money in?

I remember a Teen saying that she wanted to drop her savings account and get a checking account in a way that "checking accounts" were for grown-ups while "savings" were for children... Sad!!

[Mathew Green]

Re: Can this be true??

my guess is, they did not count minor children or people with only a few dollars in a savings account.

People who answer surveys often exagerate to make themself look good or to please the survey taker. So, if the question asked was, "Have you ever had a savings account," many people who had a tiny savings account when they were a kid, and have never had one since, will answer the question 'yes' just because they believe that is the 'socially correct' answer. (but that's just my own humbly cynical opinion )

I would not consider them low income because we pay them $15-$18 an hour and up.

Just to clarify: In some cities, $18/hr is lower-middle class. In other cities, it's poor. I make $11.50 an hour and consider myself lower-income, but certainly not poor. It's been my experience that people at my income level or below usually 'invest' their extra money by stocking up on things they know they'll need in the future. It's their version of having an emergency fund. Likewise, many of them have never had a bank account. Those traits are also found in many middle-income people who came from lower-income families. But overall, the less money someone makes, the more likely they are to shun banks and to invest their extra money in physical possessions.

[Bluezy]

Re: Can this be true??

My CJ has his first savings account at our regular brick & mortar bank. His name is on the account. You should see his face when he makes a deposit. While it does not offer a good return, it's just the account to make his 529 ACH's from. So it has its uses. He doesn't need much in mad money right now, either.

[Ima saver]

Re: Can this be true??

Until 2 weeks ago, I had a savings account with a large sum of money. It was paying 4.14 interest for the past year. But a local bank came out with a money market paying 5.25% so I switched to that.
I still feel that $18 an hour is a large sum.

[TinyFish]

Re: Can this be true??

Well, it might not be relevant to the survey. I have an ING account, which I think is technically a MM account, but if someone asked me if I had a 'savings' account in a casual survey, I'd probably answer 'yes', because that is how I think of it.

I was surprised at the idea of bankless adults until I found out my brother-in-law was one. I guess it isn't so uncommon to have NO bank account at all. Sad really.

-TinyFish

[Ima saver]

Re: Can this be true??

I consider my MM account at a bank to be a savings account, also my ING account. I have a girlfriend who had no savings account. I am sure none of my husband's workers, ever had a savings account! These are mountain people and they don't believe in banks.

[Mathew Green]

Re: Can this be true??

In the course of researching this question, I came across some very interesting statistical tables on the US Census website. They have convinced me that at least 20-30% of all adult Americans probably have a savings account right now. The tables further show that even among the lower-income, lower-education, and minority groups a significant number of households do have a savings account. Mea culpa. I was wrong.

These US Census asset-ownership tables contain a lot of data, so I'll just post the links here and leave further analysis "as an exercise for curious students."

US Census: Wealth and Asset Distribution (main menu)

http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/wealth/wealth.html

Clicking the "Detailed Tables" link on that page will take you to the 1993, 1995, 1998, and 2000 data tables.

To go directly to the detailed breakdown showing who owns which kinds of interest-bearing financial assets, go to this table: "Interest-Earning Asset Ownership Rates for Households, by Selected Characteristics: 2000"

http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/wealth/1998_2000/wlth00-3.html

For a broader view that show more categories but lumps most interest-bearing assets into a single column, go to this table: "Asset Ownership Rates for Households, by Selected Characteristics: 2000"

http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/wealth/1998_2000/wlth00-2.html

To see how much money each type of household has in each type of financial asset, go to "Median Value of Assets for Households, by Type of Asset Owned and Selected Characteristics: 2000"

http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/wealth/1998_2000/wlth00-1.html

I was greatly surprised by some of these statistics, and I trust you will find them equally interesting (or at least a good way to settle questions about who has what kinds of assets.) Enjoy.

[Mathew Green]

Re: Can this be true??

I still feel that $18 an hour is a large sum.

As do I. But income levels are highly subjective and what is high- or low-income depends on the local cost of living (and vice versa).

BTW and Off Topic: You're in north Georgia aren't you? I like north Georgia and know it well. I've spent many many days in those mountains and would be there now if I weren't so well employed here.

[disneysteve]

Re: Can this be true??

I still feel that $18 an hour is a large sum.

You're earlier post said $15-18. As I pointed out, $15/hour is only 30K/year. That's low income in my opinion. I certainly wouldn't want to be supporting a family on 30K in this part of the country. Perhaps that would go a lot farther in Georgia, but around here, it would be close to poverty level. Median income in my town is about 70K.