An IFOD in April was of a similar vein as this one: Our Fellow Americans Pt. 1

As a country in aggregate, we are not very good savers. A few startling facts on this issue:

• A Federal Reserve survey asked respondents how they would pay for a $400 emergency. The answer: 47 percent of respondents said that either they would cover the expense by borrowing or selling something, or they would not be able to come up with the $400 at all.
• Similarly, a study last year by Bankrate found that 57 percent of Americans don’t have enough cash to cover a $500 unexpected expense
• GoBankingRates.com found that 62% of Americans have less than $1,000 in savings. 
• And in yet another study, almost 25% of households earning between $100,000 and $150,000 a year admitted that they’d have considerable difficulty coming up with $2,000 within a month’s time.
• Over 50% of households claim they don’t have enough savings on hand to cover even a month’s worth of lost income.

How about retirement savings? The results there are dismal as well.  The chart below shows that the median American household of working age has between $480 – $17,000 saved for retirement, depending on age group.