4 ms·

Here's just a passing figure for starters: 63% of Americans can't handle a $500 or $1000 emergency expense. Now, if you're willing to actually enquire into this

Here's just a passing figure for starters: 63% of Americans can't handle a $500 or $1000 emergency expense. Now, if you're willing to actually enquire into this there are plenty of additional dismal statistics about average American life, regardless of the dizzying heights of stock prices. https://www.forbes.com/sites/maggiemcgrath/2016/01/06/63-of-americans-dont-have-enough-savings-to-cover-a-500-emergency/#786659b44e0d https://www.forbes.com/sites/maggiemcgrath/2016/01/06/63-of-...

Veelox 9y ago
Using a kind of dubious site because it was the first one I found with the 63rd% of income [0]. That clocks in right at $79,954.00. I would say that a significant portion of that 63% is poor money management as opposed to lack of income. [0] https://dqydj.com/united-states-household-income-brackets-percentiles/ https://dqydj.com/united-states-household-income-brackets-pe...
- notabee 9y ago
  The link you provided shows percentile by household, not individual. Just clicking on the link on that page to go to individual brackets, suddenly 63% drops to 50,000/yr. That's not a terrible salary, but as expenses have gone up much more rapidly than wages for quite some time, it becomes feasible that that would be eaten up quickly by debt burden and cost of living in many places to where saving is difficult. https://dqydj.com/united-states-income-brackets-percentiles/ https://dqydj.com/united-states-income-brackets-percentiles/
  - Veelox 9y ago
    Didn't mean to switch between household and individual, good catch. While part of my agrees with you that in some areas 50k/yr gets eaten up quickly we are looking at having $500 or $1000 on hand that is either 1% or 2% of annual income in savings. While I have sympathetic to a significant portion of the country ~20%-25% that cannot do that, I hard time believing 40% of Americans could not trim $500 off their expenses each year and save it.

Veelox 9y ago

Using a kind of dubious site because it was the first one I found with the 63rd% of income [0]. That clocks in right at $79,954.00. I would say that a significant portion of that 63% is poor money management as opposed to lack of income. [0] https://dqydj.com/united-states-household-income-brackets-percentiles/ https://dqydj.com/united-states-household-income-brackets-pe...

notabee 9y ago
The link you provided shows percentile by household, not individual. Just clicking on the link on that page to go to individual brackets, suddenly 63% drops to 50,000/yr. That's not a terrible salary, but as expenses have gone up much more rapidly than wages for quite some time, it becomes feasible that that would be eaten up quickly by debt burden and cost of living in many places to where saving is difficult. https://dqydj.com/united-states-income-brackets-percentiles/ https://dqydj.com/united-states-income-brackets-percentiles/
- Veelox 9y ago
  Didn't mean to switch between household and individual, good catch. While part of my agrees with you that in some areas 50k/yr gets eaten up quickly we are looking at having $500 or $1000 on hand that is either 1% or 2% of annual income in savings. While I have sympathetic to a significant portion of the country ~20%-25% that cannot do that, I hard time believing 40% of Americans could not trim $500 off their expenses each year and save it.