How Normal Are Your Finances?

When it comes to money, there's really no such thing as normal.

There's only what's right for you. After all, we're the people who think buying bottles of water is a travesty and look forward to $0 days.

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Infographic: How Does Your Spending Stack Up?

Budgeting 101

What we can tell you, though, is what other people are doing, so you can gauge "normal" for yourself. Through a nationwide survey conducted by LearnVest and Chase Blueprint, we surveyed over 1,300 respondents nationwide (men and women) to learn what the average person saves, spends and invests.

So go ahead and take a peek at the finances of your neighbors, and feel free to let us know: Are your finances normal—you know, by comparison? Then, get a personalized free assessment with a financial expert who will evaluate your finances and recommend a course of action to help you achieve your goals. Fill out this profile to get started with your free assessment!

Update, 3pm, November 12, 2012: We heard your comments and have a breakdown of the retirement savings by age. Check it out here! 

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  • carolyn

    Does the survey break “normal” spending out by age group?  The amount saved for retirement should obviously vary depending on your age.

    • ashley

      My thoughts exactly! I understand this is a simplistic overview but age is extremely important when talking about financial statistics. I’m sure most people in their 20s, including myself, would be abnormal compared to the “normal” amount of retirement savings and probably emergency fund as well.

      • laurashin

        Hi Ashley,

        We wrote a story breaking down retirement savings by age — check it out here: http://www.learnvest.com/2012/11/retirement-savings-by-age-how-do-you-compare/

        Laura

    • marissa

      I agree, I’d definitely like to see more articles and data on post college grads/young profressionals. I feel like there is a huge disparity with how much people spend/save in my age group and would like to know what’s considered average.

    • laurashin

      Hi Carolyn,

      We heard you and have created a breakdown of retirement savings by age: http://www.learnvest.com/2012/11/retirement-savings-by-age-how-do-you-compare/

      Laura

  • Kerry

    Agreed.  You can’t assume that a 25 year old has a $15,000 safety net and 150K for retirement.  I find these results pretty useless without that clarification.

    • laurashin

      Hi Kerry,

      If you want to see retirement savings broken out by age, check out this story: http://www.learnvest.com/2012/11/retirement-savings-by-age-how-do-you-compare/

      Laura

  • Carissa

    “Normal” needs to factor in age and location

  • Silverpanic

    The two things that I’m wondering about is 1) what was the average student loan debt and 2) were the retirement savings projected figures for when they turn 65? E.g., if I have $30K now at 30, then I’m projected to have $550K in 35 years upon retirement. 

  • http://twitter.com/DebtandtheGirl Debt and the Girl

    I agree with the comment posted. This author did a poor job of getting all the details of the people they surveyed. Also, only 1300 respondents? Thats a really tiny sample size and it does NOT represent the average American.

  • Nwootton12345

    Plus women on average make less money than men for the same work, clearly why they have less saved

  • aggie

    Also, I do not think Chinese people will have $5,000 credit card debt on average. If I have $5,000 credit card debt, I would not be able to sleep at night….

  • JackieAU5

    $5,000 seems like a lot of credit card debt. Thank you LeanVest for teaching me to have $0 in credit card debt!