According to a recent survey from Bankrate.com, it's estimated that 1 in 4 Americans are currently unprepared to weather an unexpected financial emergency.
As for the recent Bankrate survey, they found that about 39 percent of the respondents would be able to deal with a emergency that cost around $1,000, but not much more.
Financial experts suggest that many Americans might be feeling overly confident about their expenses, if they don't have a savings pool to fall back on should they unexpectedly lose their job or see some other bill or expense come their way. People are kidding themselves, noted one financial analyst, Greg McBride, who suggested that there isn't any comfort to be had in being unprepared to handle a costly emergency. McBridge also noted that this reality showcases the desperate need for millennials to learn good savings habits.
As for the money that people are managing to earn and save, it's continually being eroded in value by the federal reserve, as has been the case since the inception of the central bank. Overall, the U.S. dollar has lost more than 90 percent of its purchasing power and this means that you're able to do less with those dollars as they continue to lose value.
The easy money central bank policies that we are familiar with have also encouraged Americans to over-borrow and over-spend, living on credit and driving themselves into debt; buying things that they cannot afford. And if almost half the adult US population isn't prepared to handle a $400-1000 unexpected emergency, then how can we deduce that the economy is really doing well?
Financial experts suggest that many Americans might need to start to familiarize themselves with a budget or take the time to be more aware of their spending and where their money is going. And hopefully some day our government with its trillions of dollars in debt will try to do the same.
Pics:
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Sources:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/budget-and-spending/2018/06/20/more-americans-ok-lack-emergency-savings-survey/715041002/
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2017/10/06/why-half-of-americans-cant-come-up-with-400-in-an-emergency/106216294/
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/22/fed-survey-40-percent-of-adults-cant-cover-400-emergency-expense.html
https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/06/20/23-of-americans-have-no-emergency-savings.aspx
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I couldn't sleep at night if I didn't have a few weeks food and fuel for the generator, much less enough to heal a broken bone or something if it happened. One of the this that bothers me about society is that we can't even rest on our own property. When grandma is too old and tired to work, still has to pay property taxes which go way up over time and the value of the dollar falls. Really, we are disincentivized from saving.
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Her property is still being protected by the local police and fire services right? Inflation incentivizes me to make sure the returns on my investments are greater than inflation.
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I'm not sure I call local police "protection", but she could almost certainly get better service for her dollar if it weren't a monopoly backed by extortion.
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I was watching Live PD just last night and the cops out on patrol happened to be the first ones to notice an abandoned house on fire and they all rushed over and managed to rescue the old lady and her husband who lived next door whose house was on fire and the husband was trapped on the second floor, they got a pretty great bang for their buck. Old people are going to use police fire and EMT services more than most. Even if you don't have kids paying for local schools means the kids are not out committing crimes against you or your property for several hours a day. So the fire department got there in what seemed like less than a minute, it was pretty impressive, how would that be better with multiple fire agencies, how would anyone even know which one to call when they saw your house on fire?
most importantly, in the absence of a dominant protection agency with a monopoly on force making and enforcing antitrust laws, how would you prevent the protection agencies from monopolizing and providing terrible service?
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What I hear is: "Hey old lady, you can't pay for our protection so we are going to remove you from your property. It isn't your property anyway, now is it?"
That is not a difficult task to handle in an open market. If there were no monopolies on doctors, how would you know who to have work on you? That is obviously sarcasm, but this is not a scary problem. People can carry insurance. Many fire stations are volunteer and police... well, I would abolish those clowns and hire private security. There are examples of these working very well in poor areas of Chicago. They do provide service to those that don't pay them. I don't feel like looking them up, but it should be easy to find if you desire.
Those kind of monopolies are only possible under government regulatory capture. In an open market, there is no possibility of a monopoly.
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Ok, in the open market, how would anyone even know which one to call when they saw a house in the distance on fire?
There are no monopolies on doctors. How much would you pay for private security in that scenario? what about the people who don't pay, can I take them as slaves?
No there aren't, the one that anarchists keep citing is mostly an overpriced firearms training school whose service to the community is mostly to advise the community to call the police. That is not a substitute for the police.
ROFL
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The other 3 are in denial
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This is pretty terrifying. When things really go off the rails most people will be completely fucked.
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I live in another country and I understand the situation, it seems sad that after so much sacrifice and hard work can not be saved that is anguishing and worrying
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I read a statistic today that said that only 13% of Americans who have garages actually park their cars inside their garage. I think these two statistics may have something to do with each other...
People buy too much stuff, and then have no money left over for emergency savings and no space left in their garage to use it for its intended purpose!
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that's an interesting stat! thanks for sharing that info
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yup! I think you may have figured it out.
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This is a reality that many people live from all over the world, which calls the attention that it is a high percentage, considering that we are talking about a first world country.
Excellent post dear friend @doitvoluntarily, thank you very much for spreading them
I wish you a great day
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This is really sad that is happening all this people try to save but sometimes you can not, both work and when there is an emergency and not having anything is exasperating
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I facced this and I wish I spent my money better , or even saved
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It's not a good scenario but it could have been worse.. Take Africa for example.. Most can even afford $100 and they can't get it from anywhere
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So sad. The reality is a huge percentage of the American population also could not survive without their easy-money hand-outs from Uncle Sam. Most have no idea how to plant a garden, hunt &/or fish, skin an animal, start a fire, etc., etc., etc.
This country is ripe for a massive disaster, and her citizenry is in no condition to survive it.
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Yes, these are serious indicators of the economic tragedy of citizens. I thought things were much better in America. Living on credit is definitely a terrible tradition. In addition, it harms the budget of the person, so it also greatly weakens the nervous system. This is life in constant stress.
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Note that there were no statistics in this article about where the trend is going, about whether more or less Americans have savings now than previously.
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Until earlier this year I was sadly one of those Americans. It is an amazing feeling to have enough savings so that you don't have to worry if something were to happen.
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Normalcy bias is a harsh mistress.
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This shows a real lack of financial literacy in the population. We are not encouraged to understand $ nor are healthy systems in place to put away for the future. Polluting industry is not considering if 100 years from now the same practices will be an option. They go on ahead often without thought past the quarterly profit. Luckily there are conciencious companies doing good work. When you consider the capatalistic paradigm, it's not wonder we are not a society of savers, but a workforce of debt slaves.
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You might want to read some literature from a company you consider polluting. Read some corporate investor packets, they discuss things for decades into the future.
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Too many Americans live above their means. They max out the credit card and think they will pay for it later. I was raised with the belief that if you cannot pay for it in full you cannot afford it and you don't need it. Sadly financial responsibility has been thrown out the window along with respect and privacy. Sadly it's a different world we live in today. Too many folks are addicted to the drug of spending money rather than saving. Thanks for a good post
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This picture is not only for the USA but also many countries in the world. You have described the matter so clearly. Thanks for sharing.
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over what time period?
We can deduce that from the fact that most of those people are not worried about it. Probably related to record low unemployment among blacks Hispanics and young people.
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It’s crazy but true. I can’t imagine being this way and keep more than 1 year income in savings and still feel it’s not enough
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This is really sad. "Save for a rainy day" was a powerful slogan for generations. Yet today, we live in the moment and ignore the fact that risks are all around us. At any moment our lives could change and having resources is crucial to recovery.
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