How much money do teenage consumers place in savings each year?

In 2008, 50 percent of working teenagers reported saving "some" of their wages and spending the rest, as reported by a Charles Schwab Foundation study. In 2012, a survey of 16- and 17-year-old high school students found that only 45 percent had money in a savings account.

In 2008, fewer than 20 percent of teenagers reported having more than $1,000 in savings, and only 53 percent reported having any savings at all. A survey of students aged 16 to 18 in 2011 found that the average teenager had only $1,000 in savings, and only 76 percent reported trying to save money. The most common reason given for trying to save money was to pay for college.