A shocking number of Americans are not saving anything at all

A shocking number of Americans are not saving anything at allA shocking number of Americans are not saving anything at allA full 21% of working American adults arent saving anything at all not for emergencies, retirement funds, or even a rainy day, according to a new survey by Bankrate. Meanwhile, 4 in 10 Americans dont have $400 in cash for an emergency, the Federal Reserve recently reported.The survey was conducted for Bankrate by SSRS, who interviewed 1,003 respondentsvia telephone.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moraThe low number isnt news. This result has shown little change over the past few years, consistently coming in at 20% or 21% since 2016, said Greg McBride, CFA, Bankrate chief financial analyst.Those who are saving arent saving much. While nearly half (48%) of working adults are saving, theyre only squirreling away just 10% of their yearly income.Only 16% say they so ck away more than 15% of their annual salary.Who can save, who cantOf course, it gets harder to save the less you make, especially if youre the 80% of workers living paycheck to paycheck. For households earning less than $30,000 per year, 45% arent saving anything at all.For households aged 55 and older, however, theyre more likely than other age groups to be savings more than 10% of their annual income likely spurred by their upcoming retirement.Millennials and Gen Xers were found to be either not saving any money at all, or if they are saving, theyre saving not more than 10% of their yearly income. Then again, Millennials are crippled by student loan debt, and both generations face flat wage growth.Why arent Americans saving?Aside from personal obligations, 16% of working adults say their job doesnt provide enough for them to save. And 13% say they have too much debt. Then theres the fact that Americans have been in a savings crisis for a long time since the 1970s our personal sa vings rate has fallen from around 12% to just 3% today. The culprits? Stagnant wages, the rising cost of everything, and lowered interest rates for savings.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people