Did COVID Change Your Savings Habits?

1LT Lila Quintiliani — Tue, 25 May 2021 16:21:36 -0400

This past year has taught us a lot of things: that fast WIFI is important, that it’s good to have extra toilet paper on hand, and even how to make our own sourdough bread. But has it really changed the way we save? And how has the pandemic impacted veteran and military families’ finances?

These are some of the things we want to find out as we launch our 2021 Military Saves Saver Survey.

For more than a decade, Military Saves has conducted a biannual survey, and over the years we have learned a lot about our audience of “Savers,” as we like to call them.

For instance, our Savers come from across the military community: we have active-duty service members of all ranks and from every branch of service, we have veterans, we have spouses and family members, and we have DoD civilian employees.

We have learned that our Savers face some obstacles when it comes to saving: most (57%) say that unexpected expenses are a big challenge. Others say they have too much debt, or unpredictable income, or simply buy things they don’t need.

Our Savers like to save both automatically, through payroll deduction or allotment, and manually, by transferring money to their bank and credit union when they can do so.

And we have also found that while some in our community struggle to put away $500 in an emergency account, others are what I like to call “Super Savers” – people who save $10,000 or even $20,000 in a year.

We were pleased to find out during our last survey in 2019 that a whopping 88% of respondents said that the Military Saves program helped them build wealth over time.

But this past year was different, and we think the results of our survey will reflect that. While some folks were able to save more than ever before, other families struggled with loss of income and food insecurity.

We want to hear how the past year impacted you and your family and how you feel about your financial situation. Your answers will help us shape our program so that we can support the military and veteran communities to build wealth and reduce debt.

Please take 5 minutes to fill out this anonymous survey: https://rly.pt/3fpSKM1, which is open to veterans, service members of all components including the National Guard and Reserve, DoD employees, and spouses and family members. Survey-takers are eligible to enter our weekly drawing for a $500 cash prize – that’s up to five chances to win $500!

3fpSKM1

Response by SFC Randy Hellenbrand made May 25 at 2021 6:26 PM

SFC Randy Hellenbrand — Tue, 25 May 2021 18:26:22 -0400

Savings??? Where do you find a bank with a interest rate that gives you more than $.50 cents on $500.00 in a year?? Oh wait, you play the market and hope. That's what I did and I got George W'd. Young enough to lose it and too old to make it back. There are things that are FDIC insured besides the banks. Wish I'd known that one, but I never expected W and the GOP to do NOTHING. Wish we had had Biden back then.

Response by CSM Thomas Ray made May 31 at 2021 7:07 AM

CSM Thomas Ray — Mon, 31 May 2021 07:07:48 -0400

COVID didn’t but the present administration did

Response by CPT Richard Trione made May 31 at 2021 12:04 PM

CPT Richard Trione — Mon, 31 May 2021 12:04:23 -0400

Yes!

Response by SPC Kurt Hesselden made Jun 4 at 2021 1:31 PM

SPC Kurt Hesselden — Fri, 04 Jun 2021 13:31:55 -0400

Savings?
Food easily costs 3 times from pre-covid, gasoline up 50%, utilities all up. Savings, Used ours up to buy what we need day to day. Essentially for fixed incomes, every day is a rainy day.

Response by CWO3 Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 4 at 2021 3:57 PM

CWO3 Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 04 Jun 2021 15:57:15 -0400

Many retail outlets here have posted notice "out of quarters, will buy yours". More people are tipping and also saving change at home, at the lower end of the spectrum. Others play pump n dump such as Gamestop and AMC. Nice profits, but you have to know when to get out.