Trends

Coming Up For Air: How Americans Are Getting on Top of Their Finances

Written by Ross Crooks
Published Apr 28, 2010
1 min read
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One upside to The Great Recession has been a notable shift in how most people view their finances. While just a few years ago it was OK to support an otherwise unaffordable lifestyle with credit cards and home equity loans, these days Americans are more determined than ever to live within their means. In fact, according to data collected from Mint.com’s 2.5 million users, American consumers are actively slashing their debt and refilling their savings tanks. Between February 2009 and February 2010, Mint.com users reduced their debt by 14.3% and upped their cash savings by 3.2%. As a result, liquidity (cash minus credit-card debt) increased by 18.4%, to an average $7,460. And thanks in large part to the stock market rally (the period under review includes its bottom in March 2009), investment assets grew by more than 33%, to an average $94,555.

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<a href=”http://www.mint.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/MNT-SAVINGS-R7-1.png” mce_href=”http://www.mint.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/MNT-SAVINGS-R7-1.png”><img src=”http://www.mint.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/MNT-SAVINGS-R7-1.png” mce_src=”http://www.mint.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/MNT-SAVINGS-R7-1.png” alt=”” title=”MNT-SAVINGS-R7-1″ width=”900″ height=”998″ class=”alignnone size-full wp-image-10390″ /></a><br /><a href=”http://www.mint.com/” mce_href=”http://www.mint.com/free-online-financial-calculator/”>Budget Calculator</a> Mint.com

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