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Do you have more or less money than your peers?
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Keeping money in a checking and savings account can give you financial stability. You can use the money in a checking account to pay the bills and cover your routine expenses. You can put money into a savings account for emergencies and for purchases you’ll need to make soon because the money is both safe and accessible there.
If you have money in these accounts, you may wonder how you’re doing at contributing to them relative to your peers. To find out, check out how your account balance compares to the typical American’s.
Do you have more or less money saved than your fellow Americans?
According to data from the U.S. Federal Reserve, the median combined account balance in checking and savings accounts was $5,300 as of 2019. Median is the middle number if everyone’s bank accounts were listed in order from ascending to descending.
The mean account balance, on the other hand, was $41,600. This is the overall average if you add up all the money in all of the accounts and divide that balance by the number of people with accounts. The mean is much higher than the median because people with very high account balances skew this upward.
To find out if you have more or less money in your bank account than your peers, you can sign into your checking and savings accounts and see what your current balance is. Although your balance is going to fluctuate over time as money comes in and goes out, you can get a pretty good idea of how much cash you have in your combined accounts.
How can you increase your account balances?
If you have less than your peers, you may wonder if you should work on increasing your balance. The answer depends on whether you need more money in savings and checking. Neither of these accounts tend to earn much interest, so if you won’t need the money in the next two to five years or so, it should be invested rather than put into either of these bank accounts.
If you want or need more money in your checking or savings account, there’s a number of ways to do it. One of the best solutions to build up a bigger bank account is to increase your income. That’s because you can earn an essentially unlimited amount if you put in the time and effort, while spending can only be reduced so far. You can take a look at your budget too, though, and look for ways to cut expenses so more money stays in your bank accounts instead of going out.
Ultimately, whether you have more or less than your peers, the important thing is to make sure you have enough in your checking and savings account to cover your bills and be prepared for emergencies life sends your way.
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