Yikes: More Than Half of Millennials Have Less Than $1000 in Savings

A new survey of Millennials (those between the ages of 18 and 34) by How Much shows that more than half of them have less than $1,000 in savings.

For those surveyed, we found that:

• 51.8% of Millennials have less than $1,000 in savings.

• 18% of Millennials have savings of $1,000 to $5,000.

• 7.3% of Millennials have savings of $5,000 to $10,000.

• 6.4% of Millennials have savings of $10,000 to $20,000.

• 16.5% of Millennials have savings of more than $20,000.

This is a little disturbing. For some unknown reason, it has become relatively trendy to discourage Millennials from taking care of their finances and to save money for retirement--or to save money at all. As a 24-year-old Millennial (and, admittedly, one who has taken multiple spur-of-the-moment trips that probably weren't necessary but definitely were fun), I understand the temptation to spend, spend, spend, but I also recognize the fact that I'd like to eventually retire someday (and move to Disney World). While I certainly don't have $20,000 in savings (which, considering I've been in the workforce for about two years, isn't all that shocking), I'm apparently in the minority of my peers because I have a solid rainy-day fund in case something happens. And this is distressing--a person who doesn't save runs the risk of running into serious debt if something goes wrong, like car trouble or a busted laptop. Debt isn't good, and can easily be avoided.

Millennials should be encouraged to save, not to spend money they don't have.