60% of American adults don't have enough in savings to cover a $1,000 emergency

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The tendency to splurge consistently on nonessentials is causing Americans to skimp on other important items. Case in point: A good 38% of Americans claim they can't afford to fund a retirement plan because they don't have enough money. Meanwhile, 35% say they can't afford a life insurance policy, 28% can't afford to pay off credit card debt, and 26% can't afford car repairs.

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All of this spending on nonessentials is also causing Americans to neglect their near-term savings. An alarming 60% of adults don't have enough money in savings to cover a $1,000 expense.

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Once you have that information, you'll need to play around with different scenarios in which you trim your spending on nonessentials and see where that leaves you. For example, if you're $1,000 shy of having three months of living costs in the bank, you might cut back on restaurants, drinks, lunches and takeout for a month or two until you've bridged that gap. From there, you might slash two of those expenses to pay for a life insurance plan, and cancel a streaming service or two and your gym membership to eke out money for a retirement account. It doesn't matter which expenses you cut, as long as you're getting yourself into a better spot financially.

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