The top 1 percent of households in the U.S. have over $1 million saved across several accounts, and the bottom twenty percent have between zero and eight thousand dollars in savings.  Where do you land?

The median household has $11,700 in savings according to the personal-finance site Magnify Money.  Median is the midpoint, so we all have an equal chance of falling above or below that line.  Median is lower than an average.

Magnify Money says the average American household has $175,510 worth of savings in bank accounts and retirement savings accounts as of June 2018.

Is there a secret to socking away money?  The key to saving might be auto-transfers, so it zips out of our checking account and into a separate account without us having to think twice about it.  It's out of sight before we have a chance to put it toward a new gadget or pair of shoes.

Things happen and sometimes we have to dig into the nest egg to pay for unexpected expenses, and that makes saving a challenge.  I just talked to a friend last week who was expecting some money on the 1st and it didn't arrive, and that prevented him from paying his rent.  He's not thinking about saving lumps of cash for the future.  He just hopes he can get by for another month.

While the top 1 percent of households in the US by income have $1 to $2 million saved across accounts, the bottom 20 percent by income have no savings accounts and the second lowest 20 percent income earners have just $26,450 saved, according to Market Watch.  We all have to start somewhere.

Here's the great news.  We have chances coming up this week for you to win some cash to beef up your savings account and get rid of some of the money stress.  Watch the website and mobile app for the details so you can win some cash to sock away, and keep a little fun money for the holidays too.  Your cushion is coming!

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