65% of Americans Do Not Have Sufficient Emergency Savings
Financial Security Index is at its 3rd highest level on record
NEW YORK, June 23, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Just 22% of Americans have an adequate emergency savings cushion – enough to cover at least 6 months' of expenses, according to a new Bankrate.com (NYSE: RATE) report. Twenty-one percent have less than three months' expenses saved up, and only 15% have enough to cover between 3 months' and 5 months' expenses. The number of Americans with no emergency savings whatsoever has climbed to a 5 year high of 29%, up from 26% last year.
"These results are further evidence that Americans remain woefully under-saved for unplanned expenses and rather than progressing, are moving in the wrong direction," said Greg McBride, CFA, chief financial analyst at Bankrate.com.
Surprisingly, adults under age 30 are more likely than any other age group to have savings that would cover up to 5 months' expenses – evidence that they are actively saving. And even though the likelihood of having no emergency savings was fairly even among all age groups, it was lowest for adults under age 30.
Americans' financial security remains at a high level. This month's Financial Security Index clocks in at 104.5, with little change from one month ago.
- Job security, net worth, comfort level with debt, and overall financial situation remain areas of strength, each noting improvement from one year ago.
- Comfort level with savings remains the laggard, with more Americans noting deterioration in savings (24%) rather than improvement (21%) from one year ago. However, the gap is narrowing.
- Women's feelings of financial security outpaced those of men this month, driven by stronger feelings of job security and a less dour mood on savings.
The survey was conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International (PSRAI) and can be seen in its entirety here:
http://www.bankrate.com/finance/consumer-index/americans-still-lack-savings-despite-wage-growth.aspx
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Methodology
PSRAI obtained telephone interviews with a nationally representative sample of 1,000 adults living in the continental United States. Interviews were conducted by landline (500) and cell phone (500, including 299 without a landline phone) in English and Spanish by Princeton Data Source from June 4 to 7, 2015. Statistical results are weighted to correct known demographic discrepancies. The margin of sampling error for the complete set of weighted data is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.
About Bankrate, Inc.
Bankrate is a leading publisher, aggregator, and distributor of personal finance content on the Internet. Bankrate provides consumers with proprietary, fully researched, comprehensive, independent and objective personal finance editorial content across multiple vertical categories including mortgages, deposits, insurance, credit cards, and other categories, such as retirement, automobile loans, and taxes. The Bankrate network includes Bankrate.com, CreditCards.com, InsuranceQuotes.com and Caring.com, our flagship websites, and other owned and operated personal finance websites, including Interest.com, Bankaholic.com, Mortgage-calc.com, CreditCardGuide.com, CarInsuranceQuotes.com, Insweb.com, CreditCards.ca, and NetQuote.com. Bankrate aggregates rate information from over 4,800 institutions on more than 300 financial products. With coverage of over 600 local markets, Bankrate generates rate tables in all 50 U.S. states. Bankrate develops and provides web services to over 100 co-branded websites with online partners, including some of the most trusted and frequently visited personal finance sites on the Internet such as Yahoo!, AOL, CNBC, and Bloomberg. In addition, Bankrate licenses editorial content to over 500 newspapers on a daily basis including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The Boston Globe.
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SOURCE Bankrate, Inc.
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