Our parents may have taught us to put something away for a rainy day, but today Americans are spending as if the sunny days will never end.

Americans' poor savings habits are confirmed every month when the St. Louis Federal Reserve releases data on personal household savings rates.

In July 2016 the personal savings rate was just 5.7 percent. Comparatively, personal savings rates in the U.S. 50 years ago were double what they are today, and nearly all developed countries have a higher personal savings rate than the United States.

In other words, Americans are saving less of their income than they should be — the recommendation is to save between 10 percent and 15 percent of annual income — and they're being forced to do more with less in terms of investing.

America's spend-first mentality is a genuine concern.

Becky Milligan, who teaches personal finance as an elective at Butler High School, said juniors and seniors coming into her yearlong course have gaps in their financial knowledge.

“In the credit section, many don't understand how credit cards work,” said Milligan. “They just think it is free money. They don't get they are paying more for an item if they don't pay it (the credit card bill) off in a month.”

“They don't understand debits and credits,” said Milligan. “They are just used to getting money and they don't have to account for it.”

“Their attitude toward money is 'It comes, it goes. I'll get more somewhere.'” And new data emerged this month from personal-finance news website GoBankingRates that shows just how dire Americans' savings habits really are.

Last month GoBankingRates posed the question: How much do you have in your savings account?

A total of 7,052 people responded.

The result?

Nearly seven in 10 Americans (69 percent) had less than $1,000.

Breaking the survey data down a bit further, 34 percent don't have a dime in a savings account, while another 35 percent have less than $1,000. Of the remaining survey takers, 11 percent have between $1,000 and $4,999, 4 percent have between $5,000 and $9,999, and 15 percent have more than $10,000.

That's being short-sighted financially said Wendy Bennett, senior financial adviser and portfolio manager with Bennett Associates Wealth Management, 101 E. Diamond St., Suite 200.

She said, “I always say, before you do anything in investing for the future, have your emergency fund first.”

The size of the fund depends on the client, she said.

“For a married couple both working, it should be three months of household expenses,” said Bennett.

“If it's one working person or if both are working for the same place you should have six months in reserve,” Bennett said.

“Once you have an emergency fund set up, look to investment goals; again you should have a plan and have goals in mind.”

Bennett said an emergency fund should be easy to get to, stashed in a checking or savings account.

She said, “We live on credit too much. So, we leverage ourselves up too much in a culture that is accustomed to living paycheck to paycheck. They are just not looking long-term.”

Bennett considers the “rainy day fund” the foundation of financial planning. “Absolutely,” she said, “The saying is 'Pay yourself first.' I won't talk to young people unless they have their emergency funds covered.”

“I just think the best thing to do is for people to take a long time view. You need to plan and that will keep you out of trouble,” she said.

Butler High's Milligan said part of the course she teaches to her hundred students in four classes is ways to save.

“I do go through the different accounts, CDs, mutual funds. We play this stock market game that they loved. It had an app they could put on their phones,” she said.

“When they get their first jobs, we discuss whether the employer offers a 401(k) or a 403(b) plan. And most employers will match contributions.”Ray Peaco teachers elective personal finance to three classes in the fall and three in the spring semester made up mostly of seniors.He said students' knowledge of finance and savings is all over the place.“You're going to get a wide variety of reasons for taking the course. Some are interested in going into finance or business, so they take this course,” said Peaco.“But I tell them it is personal finance. A lot of them don't know as much as they thought,” said Peaco.He said his students go through financial simulations including a budgeting exercise from H&R Block that can lead to real-life scholarships for the winners.Peaco said he tells his students a good rule of thumb is to stash away 10 to 15 percent of earnings into savings, divided into short-term, medium and long-term goals.“A lot of my students have jobs. They do appreciate savings, but until something happens, they don't know how serious it is not to throw it away,” Milligan said.“I think they know it (saving) is important, but they don't think it is important at their age,” she said.Of course, it helps if you can afford to save money to begin with, said Howard Pentony, owner of Pentony Capital Management in Portersville.Pentony said, “I think the last thing I read was upward of 50 percent of the population of the United States that files income tax returns makes $50,000 or less.”“The median income is $50,000 in a year. If you have a family, how can you afford to contribute to a retirement account or savings making $50,000?” he asked.“I think the number one reason is that people can't afford to do it,” Pentony said.“How can you save any money, how in the world can you save money with today's expenses?” he asked.“My suggestion is to always have three months of household expenses socked away,” he recommended.“The reality is if you don't have the money how can you save? And the answer is to make more money, and who doesn't want to do that?” said Pentony. “But the availability of jobs paying $50,000, a lot of those jobs have gone away.”Ford's recent decision to shift its small car production is the perfect example of the fairly well-paying jobs that aren't going to be here, Pentony noted.“Manufacturing jobs have moved out of the U.S., again if you are not making enough money your aren't going to save, that's just common sense,” he said. “But a lot of well-paying jobs are not available right now.”“I don't know the answer How do you fix this? I don't know, ”Pentony said.