Posted on 01/06/2016 5:59:18 PM PST by free_life
Some 63% of people can't deal with a $500 emergency.
Americans are starting 2016 with more job security, but most are still theoretically only one paycheck away from the street.
Approximately 63% of Americans have no emergency savings for things such as a $1,000 emergency room visit or a $500 car repair, according to a survey released Wednesday of 1,000 adults by personal finance website Bankrate.com, up slightly from 62% last year. Faced with an emergency, they say they would raise the money by reducing spending elsewhere (23%), borrowing from family and/or friends (15%) or using credit cards to bridge the gap (15%).
(Excerpt) Read more at marketwatch.com ...
Are you stupid man?
They are starving us all while blowing us kisses.
Time for some fresh air
It’s not that bad. Homeowners among this bunch have built in savings as in 2 years worth house payments they wouldn’t have to make it things really went pear shaped.
63% is staggering! This happened under Obama’s Presidency (and the end of GWB’S term). The middle class is reeling from the last 8 years and has lots of debt and little to no savings. The voters will speak loudly next election, the media is not going to be able to keep this from being a major factor in the election booths.
But I needs me some new grillz and tats!
Sonic’s dollar burgers went up this summer to $1.39. When unskilled labor demands $15/hr. and Obama demands obamacare, prices must go up hurting the economy even more.
It screws people on fixed incomes the most.
Grandma will be forced by Obama to eat cat kibble!
If they can't steal your retirement savings outright they'll just suck the value out of them with a printing press.
While I generally agree with your comments, consider that the current Obama economy has caused some to be laid off, which then used their emergency funds, their savings, their retirement funds just to sustain their family until they could get back to gainful employment.
I am 51 and basically got laid off unexpectedly for 6 months. We survived and still have the house. We were able to survive because we are of the prepper mindset, had put away food that we ate off of while we were between jobs, and had other skills we could fall back on. Even so, it got real dicey there for a while.
We are now getting back on our feet but have had to tap very heavily into savings and wiped out our retirement. So we are starting over again and thanks to Dave Ramsey, we have already have a partial emergency fund (not enough for 3 months yet) but we are working on it. It will take some time to pay off some of our debts that we acquired but within a year or two we should be ok.
All in all, we still have the house and our vehicles and did not have to go into bankruptcy. But this Obama depression nearly took us out financially. I know others that are in similar circumstances.
What is all this medical expense stuff? I thought Obamacare took care of that little problem.
We are watching it happen
I have to admit, we have tried to be responsible for our own future as best we can, but I have the distinct feeling that any savings we have made will be outright stolen by the government in a redistribution grab, or it will be destroyed as you suggest, by hyperinflation.
Those stories about the Weimar Republic aren’t just bed time stories. That happened. And a lot of people who saved, saw it all vanish.
Well, one can only do the best one can.
That said, why does a welfare mother need to save money? She has a guaranteed check from Uncle every month
Eventually the govt runs out of OPM
I’ve warned people for years that their 401Ks will be used to lower their SS payments (as if moving the retirement age up already wasn’t bad enough). The Weimar reference is interesting; like Weimar Germany (which was allowed to pay its war reparations with paper money instead of gold), we are simply kicking the can down the road in terms of unsustainable debt levels. The writing was on the wall for us when gas stations changed their signs to digital; much easier to reflect the unreported inflation with price increases.
Yes, uppity retirees who tried to prep for their future need to be put in their place.
More social justice.
What i mean is that feds earn more than the station owners do, they take a higher percentage of money each gallon than the people running the gas station do, when you break down the cost of a gallon of gas. Feds take 18 cents and the station owners generally earn about 4 cents.
It’s a book. Don’t be that way and assume such negative garbage here.
he did not. if you get really sick such as with cancer, the bills will come. if you don’t pay the creditors will refer to collection agencies. don’t ask how i know.
Yeah, I wouldn’t be able to sleep nights if I didn’t have a contingency plan. Or two.
I read that 58% of a group polled said they had enough money for when they retire. Yet 48% didn’t do any calculations to back that up! Amazing. Those from the Greatest Generation sacrificed for this generation in vain, I’m afraid. They didn’t learn a thing.
I think we need to be responsible - saving money. But also be flexible, in case that money becomes worthless.
We’re trying to figure out how to make our basement rentable - since those that owned property and rented it out did fairly well in the Weimar Republic. Also, growing crops, having some tangible assets, having some survival skills - we don’t know what’s around the corner so a variety of coping mechanisms is my goal. I just hope we have enough time.
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