Americans Are Saving This Percentage of Their Income. How Do You Compare?

Many Americans live paycheck to paycheck every month and don't manage to save so much as a dime. But ideally, you're able to carve out some amount of money to put in your savings account on a regular basis.

If you're curious as to how much the typical American saves, the Bureau of Economic Analysis has an answer. As of February, Americans were saving an average of 4.6% of their income, which isn't actually too shabby given that inflation has been driving living costs up and making just about everything more expensive.

It's also worth noting that 4.6% of income saved is actually an improvement from recent months. In January, the personal savings rate was 4.4%, which was also the case in December. And in November, that rate was 4.1%.

If you're saving about 4.6% of your income, it means you're on par with the typical worker. And you should also give yourself a pat on the back for being able to save any amount of money given how high living costs are today.

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But if you're not happy with your personal savings rate, and you want to do better, there are steps you can take to ramp up your savings. Here are a few to consider.

1. Get on a budget

Many people think budgeting is boring and/or a waste of time. In reality, setting up and sticking to a budget could spell the difference between meeting your savings goals and falling short.

All you really need to do to create a budget is list your various bills, like your mortgage, car payment, food, and utility costs. Once every expense of yours is accounted for, identify those that are non-essential and aim to cut back in those areas. The less you spend in those categories, the more money you're apt to save.

2. Use different strategies to avoid impulse buys

A big reason some people struggle to boost their savings is that they're frequently tempted to buy unplanned things and have a hard time telling themselves no. But there are strategies you can employ to avoid impulse buys.

First, make a point to never shop out of boredom. If you're sitting in a cafe waiting for your friend who's late meeting you for lunch, don't spend those 10 minutes browsing on Amazon, because that could lead to an unplanned purchase. Instead, read the news or find a free game you can play.

Next, don't store your credit card information on your phone and other electronic devices. Having that data stored makes it all too easy to complete an unplanned purchase on a whim.

Finally, implement a rewards system for avoiding impulse purchases where for, say, every month you go without one, you get to treat yourself to a little something special. Chances are, the cost of your monthly reward will be less than what you'd normally spend on purchases you weren't planning for.

3. Put the savings process on autopilot

Many people collect a paycheck, spend money, pay their bills, and hope there's a decent amount left over at the end of the month to put into savings. If you want to increase your personal savings rate, set up an automatic transfer that has money moving from your checking account to your savings account at the start of each month, before you've had a chance to spend any of your earnings.

If you're saving a chunk of your income right now, you should feel good about it. But that doesn't mean you can't take steps to boost your savings rate if that's something you feel you want to do, or should do.