How much money does the average american family have saved up?

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uclaussr

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Just curious, i know there are numbers for average salary, but how much does the typical middle age American family have saved up? Or are we a country of loans?

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Just curious, i know there are numbers for average salary, but how much does the typical middle age American family have saved up? Or are we a country of loans?

idk typically $3.50
 
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Median or average? I'd say the middle class is extremely diverse with savings and debt between credit cards and retirement savings (if existent). A well off upper mid class family can have a pretty penny in stocks/bonds/mutual funds, etc.
 
$2000 in the bank

-$7,500 in credit cards

-$200,000 mortgage

-$14,000 car

-$20,000 student loans

-$10,000 misc

Totally random numbers :p

I have about 1.5k in the bank right now and my car is paid off probably worth $13k.... -$30k in student loans? :laugh:
 
I think something around the lines of -$80,000
 
It's actually quite surprising how many people you know actually aren't saving. I was talking to my father the other day, and found out that my parents had maybe $2000 in a savings account. They do have a house and 401k, but still, that really surprised me.
 
I've got 2k saved! I feel special :D
 
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I found a few articles from various news websites saying ~$4k, but who knows how accurate that is. I found another article on BLS.gov that compares retirement savings of baby boomers to other groups. http://www.bls.gov/opub/cwc/cm20050114ar01p1.htm

Descriptive statistics. There was at least one retirement account in 57 percent of the households. The average or mean amount in the retirement accounts was $49,944, but the standard deviation was $174,193, suggesting that the dollar amount held in retirement accounts varies widely by individual households. The median amount held in retirement accounts--$2,000--provides another indication of the wide variation in the amounts held by households.

http://www.bls.gov/opub/cwc/tables/cm20050114ar01t3.htm

:eek:
 
These numbers are skewed because they refuse to include the Americans who keep their savings in the form of gold
 
These numbers are skewed because they refuse to include the Americans who keep their savings in the form of gold

Yeah, because most people have a shoebox of gold coins in the safe deposit box. Most people don't even have an emergency account, unless you, like them, think enough for a couple new tires and an oil change will cover it. Grandma's 20 silver dollars too, if things get really bad.:rolleyes:
 
Yeah, because most people have a shoebox of gold coins in the safe deposit box. Most people don't even have an emergency account, unless you, like them, think enough for a couple new tires and an oil change will cover it. Grandma's 20 silver dollars too, if things get really bad.:rolleyes:

Bleh, my immigrant grandparents kept $50k in their house because they didn't trust banks... Ended up getting stolen by a relative :rolleyes:
 
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