And Bankrate.com's Financial Security Index, which tracks Americans' feelings about their job security, savings, debt, net worth and overall financial situation, indicates that that paltry savings rate is weighing on people's minds. The Index dipped for the second month in a row to its lowest reading since September 2014—19 months ago.

Only 17 percent of Americans say they are more comfortable with their savings today versus a year ago, compared with 31 percent who say they're less comfortable and 49 percent who say they feel about the same.

In true contrary fashion, millennials were the only group among the population to say that they were more comfortable with their savings. They also have the highest feelings of job security and are the most likely to say their overall financial situation is better now than one year ago. Of course, considering the results of another survey revealing that many millennials have no retirement savings accounts at all, one might term at least some of them cock-eyed optimists.

In the wake of the Great Recession, Americans made a concerted effort to save, and according to a chart from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, savings hit a recent high of 11 percent in December of 2012. That has not continued; in January of 2013 it fell back to 4.6 percent, and has been seesawing between 4.5 and 5.4 percent ever since.

But why are so many Americans finding it tough to save? A lack of income growth, according to Bankrate, which said that "real median household income has yet to return to pre-recession levels, with the average American household earning $53,657 versus $57,357 in 2007, adjusted for inflation."

"People realize how important savings is, they just haven't been able to move the needle, and why is that?" Greg McBride, chief financial analyst for Bankrate, said in a statement.

McBride added, "In large part that's because income growth has been stagnant, people's household budgets are tight, and they just don't have a lot of extra money to throw around."