Americans Recognize the Need for Savings But Don’t Plan to Save in 2015

A survey of 2,000 Americans sponsored by Capital Bank found that while people say they like to save and feel better when they do, many are not planning to save more this year.

The survey of 2,000 Americans found that only 54% say they are satisfied with their current financial status, but that one in ten people will not save any money for the rest of 2015. Why not? Twenty-five percent of respondents say they struggle to keep up with their regular financial obligations (e.g., mortgage, car payment, etc.) and more than one in ten say they are living over their budget or spend too freely.

Capital One is working with financial journalist Nicole Lapin to encourage financial literacy and is promoting auto deposits to its online savings accounts as a way to address the savings gap. They are are not alone. Start-ups like Digit have built applications that monitor spending and do automatic transfers as a way to build savings automatically.

As banks look for low-cost deposits and work to retain customers, tools like automatic deposits will become more important. Providers of these deposit plans will need make sure that the money is accessible enough to people that they feel confident the money will be present if they have an emergency or an opportunity and want to access it.

Overview by Ben Jackson, Director, Prepaid Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group

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