I probably should have made myself clearer, and I guess I didn't take the US situation into account (I'm living in Sydney). When I ran the numbers through my h

I probably should have made myself clearer, and I guess I didn't take the US situation into account (I'm living in Sydney). When I ran the numbers through my head before making the original comment I assumed the savings would be 25-50% of take-home pay, so with the necessary taxes taken out. Which I would argue should still be more than a measly 6% of the total. The other point to make is that a mortgage would count as savings, since you're paying off a rather large purchase as opposed to paying rent. That and most people would be putting the savings away to buy a residence in the first place.