![Whimsical illustration of a plant growing out of a jar full of coins](https://www.bankrate.com/2024/01/26143406/Banking_Every-Penny-Counts.jpg?auto=webp&fit=crop&width=230&height=150)
Over half of Americans are struggling to save. These 8 charts show how small savings can add up to big money
Even small contributions to savings can substantially add up — if you give it time.
As a lead data reporter at Bankrate, Alex Gailey writes about the numbers behind consumer finance and economic trends. When she’s not crunching numbers together for broader money stories, she’s covering the economy from the perspective of financially vulnerable groups, including women, people of color and low-income families. As part of her beat, she analyzes how these groups navigate financial challenges, the workplace, building weath and other emerging trends related to money. She’s covered consumer finance for five years and before that, she reported on economic development in Atlanta.
Alex has interviewed hundreds of personal finance experts, from certified financial planners and economists to career advisors and financial therapists. She believes in thorough reporting and interviewing experts to have a pulse on consumer finance trends and news. She also spends a lot of her time talking to everyday people to better understand their money experiences.
Before joining Bankrate, Alex worked for NextAdvisor in partnership with TIME Magazine, The Boston Globe, Atlanta Business Chronicle and Charlotte Business Journal. Her work has been cited by the Washington Post, the New York Times, CNBC, Bloomberg, CBS News and more. She’s a member of the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing (SABEW), Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) and was selected as a Goldschmidt data fellow in 2024.
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