Former Bank Teller Reveals The Amount Of Money She Considers Too Much To Be In A Savings Account
She insisted that the people who were doing well financially usually had a surprising amount of money in their savings account.
Photo: Pomogayev from Getty Images | Design: YourTango When it comes to saving, banks might offer security, but if you're storing a lot of money in your accounts, you might be doing yourself a disservice by not investing it.
A former bank teller named Sarena agrees. She recently took to TikTok to reveal some insider information about how much money the average person has in savings and the exact amount she considers too much to keep in a bank without investing. What's shocking: It's much less than you'd imagine.
A former bank teller shared the amount of money she considered too much to keep in a savings account.
"This is just my personal opinion from seeing thousands and thousands of different bank accounts," Sarena began in her video. "The people who were doing pretty well financially had between $1,500 to $5,000 in their savings account at the credit union."
Sarena explained that if she saw people with more than $5,000 in their savings accounts, she would refer them to the financial services partner to see if they would be interested in investing any of that money. Sarena emphasized that she thinks highly of investing despite the fact that many people don't do it and don't know how to.
Investing is an essential part of financial planning that many people neglect to utilize.
According to a GOBankingRates survey, almost half of the survey’s participants reported not owning any stocks, with 22% having less than $15,000 in total stock investments. Only around 17% of those surveyed said they have more than $35,000 invested.
Sarena pointed out that if you have thousands of dollars in your savings account just sitting there, it can end up depreciating in value because of inflation. "Savings isn't growing the way it would if you were investing it. If you had less than $15,000, in my opinion, or even less than $1,000, like that's still a decent amount for emergencies," she continued. "But in my opinion, and for emergencies that I personally have had to deal with financially, anything less than $15,000 is just not enough."
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According to research from global asset manager Janus Henderson, part of the reason so many Americans are resistant to investing is they just don't know how. Their data indicated that a whopping 30% of Americans don't invest at all because they don't know how to do so and don't understand the market. The problem with that mindset is it goes against the idea that your money should work for you.
Despite the amount needed for emergencies, many Americans simply can't afford to put that much in their accounts.
According to a June 2024 Bankrate poll, nearly 6 in 10 (59 percent) U.S. adults are uncomfortable with their level of emergency savings. Before 2022, the percentage had been rising, from 37 percent in 2018 to 44 percent in 2020, 48 percent in 2021, and 58 percent in 2022. In 2023, it barely moved from 57 percent.
However, 27 percent of U.S. adults have no emergency savings at all, the highest percentage since Bankrate asked the question in 2020. Almost two-thirds of respondents, 63%, say high inflation has left less room to save for emergencies. Meanwhile, just 19% say they are saving more because of high interest rates.
"There’s a persistence of fragility in American society," Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate, told CNBC. "There’s more financial fragility out there than I think is widely understood." To put it simply, a huge portion of the U.S. population is one emergency away from financial collapse.
The former bank teller recalled many people with less than $500 in their accounts.
"The majority did not even have $1,000. A lot of people didn't even have $500, and it would be their primary institution," Sarena added. "If you have a ton of money in the savings account at a bank and you're not planning on using it anytime soon. I highly recommend investing it."
While you can definitely reap the benefits of investing money, the reality is that a staggering amount of individuals can barely make ends meet and are living paycheck to paycheck. For those just struggling to pay bills every month, putting away money in their savings and even thinking about investing just isn't on their radar.
Nia Tipton is a staff writer with a bachelor’s degree in creative writing and journalism who covers news and lifestyle topics that focus on psychology, relationships, and the human experience.