> say that an average young person working in retail might have $5K in savings
Doubtful. Even if you assume a minimum wage of $10, which is well above the Federal minimum (but slightly below some state minimums), that's 500 hours of wages. That's almost three months of 40 hours work weeks where you put every penny into savings. Before taxes. Before living expenses. The vast majority of Americans have far less than $5k in their savings account.[1]
How much you keep in your bank savings account has very low correlation with savings/net worth. Extremely low net worth people generally keep liquid assets in cash because then they don't need to pay crazy fees to banks. High net who do use savings accounts generally keep very little of their liquid assets in one.
Measuring the size of savings accounts != measuring the size of savings. Brokerage accounts exist. 401k plans exist. Hell, even paying into a mortgage is a form of savings.
Sure... but are you just making a distinction, or are you arguing that the average young person working in retail has any of those things? I agree with the distinction, I'm just not sure it makes any difference in this case.
Doubtful. Even if you assume a minimum wage of $10, which is well above the Federal minimum (but slightly below some state minimums), that's 500 hours of wages. That's almost three months of 40 hours work weeks where you put every penny into savings. Before taxes. Before living expenses. The vast majority of Americans have far less than $5k in their savings account.[1]
1: http://www.cnbc.com/2016/10/03/how-much-americans-at-every-a...