Americans wish they could save more

"In addition, we have far more things fighting for our dollars than we did 30 short years ago: Cell phones, music and movie downloads, the Internet -- these are all costs that our parents and grandparents never had to contend with."

America's savings aspirations

• Are debtors better savers? • The (dubious) income correlation • No such thing as too much savings • Optimistic self-appraisals • How far will our savings go? • Savings and satisfaction

Are debtors better savers?
Ironically, people who carry debt may actually be better savers than people without debt. Bankrate's poll looked at debt exclusive of mortgages, such as car loans, student loans, credit card balances, etc.

More than four out of five Americans (84 percent) with these types of debt are saving at least a portion of their salaries, compared to 63 percent of those who do not have any nonmortgage debt.

Are debtors who make interest payments really more adept at saving than those who have fewer obligations? It appears so -- at least to a point.

How much America saves

How much of your salary are you able to save each year? Total Those who have debt Those who do not have debt Those earning less than $50K Those earning $50K+ Nothing 17% 13% 25% 29% 5% Any (net) 75% 84% 63% 65% 92% Less that 10 percent of your income 30% 37% 19% 29% 35% Between 10 percent and 20 percent of your income 31% 35% 26% 26% 40% More than 20 percent of your income 14% 11% 18% 10% 17% Refused 8% 4% 12% 6% 4%

Debtors outpace nondebtors in saving zero to 20 percent of income. But at the 20 percent-plus savings level, nondebtors leap ahead, with 18 percent saving at that level versus 11 percent for debtors.

Ronald Wilcox, a professor of business administration at the University of Virginia, says that this seeming contradiction in human behavior can be explained. Dealing with debt may teach you to save, he argues. Even simply making a car payment requires you to budget your money.