America was a nation of savers during the pandemic, but those savings are apparently gone – By Justin Boggs (Scripps News) / May 8, 2024
Americans built up $2.1 trillion in “excess” savings by the middle of 2021.
With stimulus checks rolling in while vacation plans were on pause, the U.S. became a nation of savers during the pandemic.
Data from the Federal Reserve Boardshowed that Americans built up $2.1 trillion in “excess” savings by the middle of 2021. Excess savings is defined as “the difference between actual savings and the pre-recession trend — relative to previous recessions.”
By March 2024, those excess savings were apparently gone.
For nearly a decade before the pandemic, the U.S. had a personal saving rate of between 5%-8% a month. In April 2020, that rate jumped to 32%. The monthly personal saving rate remained in double digits all through 2020 and early 2021, peaking again in March 2021 at 26.1%.
