Study: Workers With a Goal Are More Likely to Regularly Save Money

Two-thirds (66%) of employed Americans regularly set aside money from their income in a bank account, according to a new NerdWallet survey. That’s good news: Savings enable people to use cash instead of debt for upcoming purchases. When unexpected expenses pop up, savings can fill the gap.

Unfortunately, saving money may be out of reach for some; 8% of employed Americans say they don’t regularly save anything from their paycheck, according to the NerdWallet survey, conducted online by The Harris Poll. In it we asked more than 2,000 Americans, including over 1,100 employed Americans, about their savings habits.

And nearly a quarter of employed Americans (22%) aren’t sure how much money from their take-home income they save on a regular basis. This group of nearly a quarter of all employed Americans could immediately improve their financial outlook by better understanding how much money they are regularly putting away. Having a clear picture of one’s financial situation is the starting point to making a plan, and employed Americans who have a savings goal are more likely to regularly save a portion of their income than those who don’t, the survey found — 75% compared with 62%, respectively.

Key findings

• Two in three employed Americans (66%) regularly save money from their income in a bank account each month. 
• About one in five employed Americans (22%) don’t know what portion of their income they are regularly saving.

• Savings habits may be impacted by personal finance knowledge:

  • Nearly three-quarters of Americans (74%) weren’t taught to save money as a child by their parents or guardians. 
  • One in 10 Americans (10%) are holding onto more cash in a bank account than they think they should because they don’t know the right place for it. 
  • Some 15% of Americans would feel safer having all their money in a savings account instead of an investment account. 

Here’s how much workers say they’re saving

Two in three employed Americans (66%) regularly save money from their income in a bank account each month, and 44% say they save at least 20% of their take-home pay (after taxes and retirement contributions are taken out).

That savings rate is higher than the national personal savings rate — 4.5% in January 2026 — as tracked by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. That broader national average includes all Americans, including retirees and the unemployed, while NerdWallet’s self-reported survey focuses on those who are ostensibly best equipped to save money: employed Americans.

Saving gives your money a role to play in your future

A savings rate north of 20% may seem farfetched, but saving money does not mean the same thing as having a lot of money left over after accounting for expenses. Instead of viewing savings as purposeless leftover money, think about it as affixing a very specific purpose to each dollar.

Those who budget know that some expenses, like vacations and emergencies, occur unevenly throughout the year, unlike rent or groceries, which have a regular rhythm. Some of those uneven expenses are predictable, while others aren’t.

Uneven expenses are best managed by saving for them ahead of time. A person may set aside money every month, earmarking it specifically for a summer vacation, a new car in a few years or an emergency fund. That’s saving in action. With cash on hand to pay for these expenses, there’s no need to take on debt.

“Saving a little at a time is usually easier than trying to save in big chunks,” says Kate Ashford, lead wealth writer at NerdWallet. “Think about how psyched you’d be at your next gift-giving holiday if you set aside $100 a month between now and then. Setting up an automatic transfer to a savings account that happens once or twice a month makes it seamless.”

The most commonly-cited active savings goal in the NerdWallet survey was an emergency fund. Nearly half (45%) of Americans are actively saving money in a bank account for such a goal. About one in three (34%) are saving for a vacation.

What prevents people from saving more?

Debt payments eat up cash flow. It’s the most common obstacle standing between Americans and saving more. Insufficient income and spending on essentials are the next most common reasons.

“It can feel like circumstances have to be perfect before you start saving, but don’t let perfect be the enemy of good,” Ashford says. “Even if you can’t save as much as you want to, saving a little is better than saving zero. Go ahead and bump your retirement contributions up by 1%, or start transferring a little each month to your child’s 529 plan, or to an emergency fund. You can always increase it later — and we hope you do — but you won’t be sad if you started now.”

Americans could benefit from better financial information

Setting a savings goal is a simple but powerful tool. Academic research suggests that people who set savings goals save more.

Despite this, most Americans (70%) don’t have savings goals for 2026, and 22% of employed Americans don’t know how much of their income they’re regularly saving, according to the NerdWallet study.

Goal-setting is a relatively simple pathway to increase savings.

Creating a savings goal costs nothing. It can be done in one evening, and you can do it yourself. In contrast, getting a big raise at work could also lead to increased savings, but that’s not something you have full control over.

But it can be difficult to make financial plans confidently, and some may lack the knowledge or experience:

• 74% of Americans weren’t taught about saving money as a child. 
• 10% of Americans hold onto more cash than they think they should because they don’t know the right place for it. 
• 15% of Americans would feel safer having all their money in a savings account instead of an investment account. 

Whether you were never taught about saving or just don’t know where to start, here are some tips to address common roadblocks:

• If you have a specific goal in mind but aren’t sure how much to set aside to get you there, a savings calculator can pinpoint how much to save each month.
• If juggling multiple savings goals is overwhelming, a savings account with buckets or subaccounts can let you track each goal. 
• If you’re not sure where to keep the money you save, focus on when you might need to use the money in the future. The best places to save depend on that timeline.
• If you want to make sure you save before you spend, set up automated deposits into your savings account. Each time you get paid, your bank will automatically route money to your savings account.  

Methodology

This survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of NerdWallet from March 3-5, 2026, among 2,091 adults ages 18 and older, among whom 1,189 are employed. The sampling precision of Harris online polls is measured by using a Bayesian credible interval. For this study, the sample data is accurate to within +/- 2.7 percentage points using a 95% confidence level. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables and subgroup sample sizes, please contact press@nerdwallet.com.

The article Study: Workers With a Goal Are More Likely to Regularly Save Money originally appeared on NerdWallet.