Where does your money go?
Almost a third of Americans have no emergency savings, CNNMoney reports.
June 25th, 2012
05:53 PM ET

Where does your money go?

CNNMoney.com struck a nerve with readers Monday. A story about savings - or lack thereof - reported that 28% of Americans have no emergency savings. So we had to ask: Where's the money?

Commenters had lots of opinions on how people spend their money and why they aren't saving.

jacalder:  No money to save but somehow there's always money for beer, cigs and cell phones. It's called priorities. Too many Americans refuse to grow up.
jaxbeach904: Not a cent saved, yet still have cell phones, big screen tvs, internet,
afford cigarettes and alcohol, designer clothes and shoes. Yeah, I cant
understand why they dont have any money saved!
Bojak: The biggest barrier to saving is having nothing to save.

The CNN Facebook community chimed in talk about just where all their money is going. Here's a sampling of what people have said.

Home and family 

Katie Fitch I am a single parent of 3 kids and get no child support, after bills, sports, braces and kids and so on what savings hahaha yeah right lol

Ron Swanson ‎i dont feel sorry for them we raise 2 kids one autistic. I also pay my child support. We live on one income. We do just fine if we can do it anyone can. Its a matter of stop whining and just do it.

Melissa Ante I have a savings with cash in it, only a couple hundred though cause cost of living happens, can't stop it. We encourage young adults to learn responsibility, get a job and take care if themselves, but how can they when minimum wage is chump change! I have a beautiful home, average little car, bills paid, just a few dollars of extra cash to use for family outings ( taking the kids out to a movie & ice cream) but I still worry like crazy about our financial status, especially when its time to pay bills.

Taxes

Estas Cabron It's all going to taxes!

Miguel Figueroa Ha ha savings ! What a f... Joke . Come and live in Massachusetts , they tax u for everything ! Even to breathe.

Maina Santiago Save what money: between all the taxes the government takes out of my pay, the taxes I pay on EVERYTHING I buy, and the house taxes "I should save what for six months!!!" Please!

The economy

Norma Senecal Machado Are you kidding me? I'm lucky to have 6 weeks set aside for emergencies! This economic situation is killing me

Nicole Highsmith Derricott ‎My husband was laid off 2yrs ago it has been hard, we are making a way also or should I say God always make a way for us, but it could be better/he was laid off from a job he worked at for 14yrs and they lied and said oh he still has a job to cheat him out of unemployment/we don't complain we go with the flow but I do sympathize with Eric and Mary Jo just my opinion, have a great day Ron :]

Rhonda Burns Having a rainy day fund seems to be on everyone's wish list. With the economy being what it is as of recent it has become even more difficult to create anything close to a savings plan. I try to keep a running ledger of everything I spend and when possible use only the cash on hand so I can leave a reasonable amount in my savings account. I can recall being back in 1993-1994 and having not only a retirement 401-k account with a nice nest egg tucked away but also a nice checking, savings, education and vacation accounts in place.

Bruce Myers NO kidding, were all broke as a joke....no jobs, all going overseas and we just keep giving what little money we have to huge companies like walmart, who have no sense of patriotism....they all fund other countries economies in the third world and take all our money. And were stuck in this cycle....cant afford to buy american and cant afford not too for much longer.

What savings?

 AmCorbett Corbett only 28%? I personally do not know but anyoe except for two people that have emergency savings and I know way more than 100 people and I am pretty sure the percentage of people I know that have no emergency savings isprobably closer to 95%

Mike Bowman ‎28% seems like a low number ......

Living the good life 

Los Carnales Surf House ‎39 single and no kids=always extra $$$ yayyyyy!

Trecee Johnstone It's not a rule of thumb. We don't have an emergency fund but we also make over 6k a month what Evers there is there. Money is meant to be spent. You can spend it foolishly or spend it wisely. We do both

We want to know where your money goes. Join the conversation on Facebook, sound off on video via CNN iReport or tell us in the comments.

Some comments edited for length or clarity.

Compiled by the CNN.com moderation staff. Some comments edited for length or clarity.

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Filed under: Economy • Jobs
soundoff (24 Responses)
  1. tf harrington

    As my late father often said, "the rich get richer, the poor have babies".

    June 26, 2012 at 9:20 pm | Report abuse |
  2. guest

    The fraud, waste and abuse of the government takes all of our money.

    June 26, 2012 at 9:36 pm | Report abuse |
  3. Chris

    Dear all you people that "think" it's sooo easy to save money. My rent is $800 a month. On LONG ISLAND. WHERE MY JOB IS. So right off the bad, I can't move, nor is there ANY place on the island cheaper. The heating bill for said barely-affordable place is about $100 a month, average. Electric is $100 average too. My car loan is $250 a month, since I need a car to get to work, and it sure as hell isn't new (the transmission might have just went, there's $3,000 just so you know...) and gas for it is about $120 a month. My student loan is $150 a month (4-year degree, I actually am not a lazy kid.) My car insurance is $100 a month (I've shopped around, have no tickets or problems, that's the cheapest around) Food (groceries, not going out EVER) is about $180 a month. I own an SDTV and I don't have an iPhone. I don't go out, either. I make about 1900 a month. Leaving me.....$100 to "save". But let's not forget tires and other car issues (see transmission above). This "younger generation"......which I mean under 35 years old, is not as well off as you'd think.

    June 26, 2012 at 9:50 pm | Report abuse |
  4. Russell

    B of A just eliminated my job, stuck the remainder of the dept. to worry about it, after 10 years. My wife is dealing with some serious health issues, her co-pays for meds run anywhere from $400 to $600 a month. My severence has run out and now the insurance will be over $1,000 a month! Without wasting everyone's time with many paragraphs of the political double talk, short and sweet, GREED is the white elephant in the room. Take the top 100 junior executives with any corporation and cut their multi-million $ salaries and cut them by 40%. Then how many people will "have to be" laid off. I would imagine with the extra $$ that was saved by not having to pay me a salary, that Brian Moneyhand the grand pubba of Scank of America will be able to remodel the bathroom at his vacation home! Take your average corporation and tell the guy that delivers the mail through the building for the mail room to stay home for a week and tell the CEO to stay home for a week, who makes the bigger impact on the operations? Admit it or not, the guy from the mailroom, there are 10 jr. executive / yes men waiting to grab the CEO's office and 2 of those 10 would do a better job than the CEO!

    June 26, 2012 at 10:44 pm | Report abuse |
  5. Roxana

    My excuse is I sarettd a blog 18 months ago but stopped blogging as some people commented it was spammy.I have a free classifieds site for Australians. I was blogging about what new things were listed on the site for the day. Problem is now I am not sure what I should be writing about in the blog? Hard to start when you don't know what you are supposed to be writing about?

    July 11, 2012 at 7:47 am | Report abuse |
  6. Rascal Rabble

    ...my emergency fund consists of cans of pork n beans, cans vienna sausages, and hot sauce from the dollar store...you greedy rich policy makers sux!

    August 3, 2012 at 10:29 pm | Report abuse |
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