More Americans shift money from checking and savings to accounts with investment income, study says

WASHINGTON AP New research finds that more Americans are shifting their money from checking and savings accounts into financial vehicles that pay an resources income a trend that helps to explain the resilience of the U S commercial sector after a bout of high inflation and latest uncertainty due to tariffs The analysis by JPMorganChase Institute examined the accounts of million households and revealed that people s total cash reserves are increasing when including new amounts going into brokerage accounts money domain funds and certificates of deposit to assess people s well-being Inflation-adjusted cash balances in checking and savings accounts remain low with a flat-growth trajectory but since the middle of total cash reserves have been increasing and approaching historical advance trends once the additional accounts are included the analysis announced Families across various income bands are now seeing a turnaround in their total cash explained Chris Wheat president of the institute Wheat mentioned it had been hard to square the circle of consumer spending staying strong despite the lack of increase in checking and savings accounts an issue that can now be explained by people in a higher-interest rate milieu shifting more money into accounts that yield assets returns He disclosed people appear to be using the other accounts to manage their cash rather than solely making long-term investments Wheat cautioned however that the trend might be short term and that the institute doesn t have a basis yet as to whether it will continue The analysis also determined that households with incomes generally lower than had their total cash balances increase at an annual rate of to The lowest income quartile tend to have checking and savings account balance of just over while the median balances of the highest income quartile are above