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A lot of people here think this is about you parse "savings". It's not: 47% of Americans say they lack the cash to pay a surprise $400 bill http://www.politi

A lot of people here think this is about you parse "savings". It's not: 47% of Americans say they lack the cash to pay a surprise $400 bill http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2015/jun/09/hunter-schwarz/47-say-they-lack-ready-cash-pay-surprise-400-bill/ http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2015/jun/09/...

oberstein 11y ago
That is a much better line of questioning since it avoids the arguments about what is meant by savings. Also clicking through I found it avoids the followup argument of "what about credit cards"? To quote the whole thing: "47: The percentage of Americans who can’t pay for an unexpected $400 expense through savings or credit cards, without selling something or borrowing money, according to the Federal Reserve." But there's still a problem in that the $400 is "pay immediately". The other study from the same article showed 50% of Americans could cope with a surprise $2000 bill that they had 30 days to pay, in 2009.
- nemo44x 11y ago
  Because they could use their paycheck and hit a payday loan store and begin to fall behind on other things. If you're living paycheck to paycheck a bit of time will let you figure it out but you don't have the cash today to pay a small bill. You shouldn't assume most people have much in the name of savings, much less capital.
nemo44x 11y ago
I think the audience on this site is mainly out of touch. When you're making a fine salary it's easy to forget that most people don't. When you're spending your time looking up at those above you and positioning to get to their level (because upward mobility is an option) it's easy to forget to look at the piles of people below you where it isn't It's easy to assume throwing $100 around here or there is normal when you're able to throw $800 on an impulse iPhone without a problem. Many people can't. I'm probably just as guilty too.
- nommm-nommm 11y ago
  >I think the audience on this site is mainly out of touch Yep!! I grew up in an entirely different mindset than the upper middle class office workers I work with. I often feel like that I can't fit in or relate to them in many ways because they seem very out of touch with the world outside of their own upper middle class existence. Even in college they never worried about bills or living expenses, their parents paid. It wasn't that long ago (less than a decade) that spending $600 on a car repair was absolutely unbearable for me. I went through that stress and now it almost seems surreal that sort of money was such a stress in my life when I look back on it. I will never, ever, lose touch with the sort of lifestyle that my income can provide me (though I prefer to blow $800 on a weekend trip instead of an iPhone...) The most interesting thing is that having so much extra money provides so much more opportunity to earn even more money. The old "You gotta have money to make money" really is true. I do money making activities outside my day job that I would never be able to do if I didn't have several thousands of dollar on hand to float for a month or so. If you are talking about real estate you need tens of thousands of dollars. The more money you have the easier it is to obtain more.
- kamaal 11y ago
  >>Many people can't. Any what are they doing about it? Please don't just stop at that. World today is at a point, where any skill can be gained at a very little price, which is almost free. You can learn anything you want, provided you 'want' to learn. If you stretch a little, sleep a little and push harder you can learn how to repair stuff, build websites and what not. I think most people can bail themselves out of poverty in first/developing world countries, if they learn simple management skills. Planning, setting goals, reviewing, taking next logical steps etc.
KirinDave 11y ago
This study was SPECIFICALLY about savings; and that's why it's a deliberately misleading thing. So called "cash buffer" problems are actually a separate problem for many people. For many americans, maintaining a cash buffer is an inappropriate strategy because of their revolving credit balances.
pessimizer 11y ago
It reminds me of a story about someone who misunderstood the point when she heard people were begging for bread. "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche."
mywittyname 11y ago
Part of the reason I love this site so much is that, while the demographic is highly intelligent, they so often miss the forest through the trees when it comes to these kind of articles. People aren't eschewing savings accounts because rates are low. They don't have money in savings accounts because they literally don't have ANY money to put in one.
dionidium 11y ago
It's revealing how spectacularly everyone here is missing the point. To anyone born into and raised amongst the working class this result is obvious. Most people don't have any savings. If that isn't obvious to you, then you're not spending a lot of time with most people.

oberstein 11y ago

That is a much better line of questioning since it avoids the arguments about what is meant by savings. Also clicking through I found it avoids the followup argument of "what about credit cards"? To quote the whole thing: "47: The percentage of Americans who can’t pay for an unexpected $400 expense through savings or credit cards, without selling something or borrowing money, according to the Federal Reserve." But there's still a problem in that the $400 is "pay immediately". The other study from the same article showed 50% of Americans could cope with a surprise $2000 bill that they had 30 days to pay, in 2009.

nemo44x 11y ago
Because they could use their paycheck and hit a payday loan store and begin to fall behind on other things. If you're living paycheck to paycheck a bit of time will let you figure it out but you don't have the cash today to pay a small bill. You shouldn't assume most people have much in the name of savings, much less capital.

nemo44x 11y ago

I think the audience on this site is mainly out of touch. When you're making a fine salary it's easy to forget that most people don't. When you're spending your time looking up at those above you and positioning to get to their level (because upward mobility is an option) it's easy to forget to look at the piles of people below you where it isn't It's easy to assume throwing $100 around here or there is normal when you're able to throw $800 on an impulse iPhone without a problem. Many people can't. I'm probably just as guilty too.

nommm-nommm 11y ago
>I think the audience on this site is mainly out of touch Yep!! I grew up in an entirely different mindset than the upper middle class office workers I work with. I often feel like that I can't fit in or relate to them in many ways because they seem very out of touch with the world outside of their own upper middle class existence. Even in college they never worried about bills or living expenses, their parents paid. It wasn't that long ago (less than a decade) that spending $600 on a car repair was absolutely unbearable for me. I went through that stress and now it almost seems surreal that sort of money was such a stress in my life when I look back on it. I will never, ever, lose touch with the sort of lifestyle that my income can provide me (though I prefer to blow $800 on a weekend trip instead of an iPhone...) The most interesting thing is that having so much extra money provides so much more opportunity to earn even more money. The old "You gotta have money to make money" really is true. I do money making activities outside my day job that I would never be able to do if I didn't have several thousands of dollar on hand to float for a month or so. If you are talking about real estate you need tens of thousands of dollars. The more money you have the easier it is to obtain more.
kamaal 11y ago
>>Many people can't. Any what are they doing about it? Please don't just stop at that. World today is at a point, where any skill can be gained at a very little price, which is almost free. You can learn anything you want, provided you 'want' to learn. If you stretch a little, sleep a little and push harder you can learn how to repair stuff, build websites and what not. I think most people can bail themselves out of poverty in first/developing world countries, if they learn simple management skills. Planning, setting goals, reviewing, taking next logical steps etc.

KirinDave 11y ago

This study was SPECIFICALLY about savings; and that's why it's a deliberately misleading thing. So called "cash buffer" problems are actually a separate problem for many people. For many americans, maintaining a cash buffer is an inappropriate strategy because of their revolving credit balances.

pessimizer 11y ago

It reminds me of a story about someone who misunderstood the point when she heard people were begging for bread. "Qu'ils mangent de la brioche."

mywittyname 11y ago

Part of the reason I love this site so much is that, while the demographic is highly intelligent, they so often miss the forest through the trees when it comes to these kind of articles. People aren't eschewing savings accounts because rates are low. They don't have money in savings accounts because they literally don't have ANY money to put in one.

dionidium 11y ago

It's revealing how spectacularly everyone here is missing the point. To anyone born into and raised amongst the working class this result is obvious. Most people don't have any savings. If that isn't obvious to you, then you're not spending a lot of time with most people.