America Wants to Save More. It Just Needs More Money to Do It

New savings surveys highlight a class divide in retirement worries
Photographer: Isu/Getty Images/Stock4B Creative
Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

Here comes “America Saves Week,” when consumers are deluged with surveys and advice about saving. And no one's going to argue that putting more money away—for a child’s education, for a comfortable retirement, for a rainy-day fund—isn't an important goal.

But next week's flood of tips, warnings, and sales pitches also highlights how useless much of this is to those who need to save the most—the many Americans who are just getting by. What they need is wage growth.