That oft quoted stat is a bad interpretation of a survey question that asked “How would you pay for an unexpected $400 expense?” with one choice being “from a s

That oft quoted stat is a bad interpretation of a survey question that asked “How would you pay for an unexpected $400 expense?” with one choice being “from a savings account”. That’s not the same thing at all as having the money at all - for example, many in the upper 50% would just use their debit card, or put it on a credit card for a month for frequent flyer miles.