LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A new survey suggests that the pandemic is draining Americans’ emergency savings.
"The number of Americans with less emergency savings has ballooned since the crisis began, while few Americans have more savings," according to bankrate.com.
About 21% of Americans have no emergency savings, the lowest share in a decade, the publisher said. About a quarter of respondents said they had enough savings to cover up to six months of expenses, slightly below the 28% to 31% range the survey showed between 2016 and 2018.
Surprisingly, a majority of Americans, 54%, were "somewhat comfortable" or "very comfortable" with their savings, and 77% of people in this group had either no emergency savings or not enough to cover three months of expenses.
"More Americans have some emergency savings socked away, but what they have isn’t enough to give them a warm and fuzzy feeling amid so much economic carnage," said Greg McBride, CFA, Bankrate chief financial analyst.
Bankrate interviewed 1,006 adults in late July and early August to generate the results.
The publisher recommends that households with two steady incomes should have enough in emergency savings to fund necessary expenses — mortgage/rent, food, utilities, medicine, transportation — for three months. Households with a single income should have at least six months of savings.
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