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The data shows the median net worth is around 100k. I'm very suspicious of claims about what the average American can afford based on surveys. Often they ask pe
by ikeboy 7y ago
The data shows the median net worth is around 100k. I'm very suspicious of claims about what the average American can afford based on surveys. Often they ask people how they would pay for something, and if the answer is "credit cards" they interpret it as that they can't afford it, which is plainly nonsense.
Edit: took a look at your source.
>“The survey shows that a very significant minority of American households apparently don’t have the resources to pay for an unexpected expense of around $1,000,” says Stephen Brobeck, executive director of the Consumer Federation of America.
Interesting how this morphed into the claim that a majority of Americans can't afford a $500 expense.
- twomoretime 7y agoAny survey driven study is soft science and subject to trivial agenda injection. It's unfortunate that so much survey driven "science" influences policy. People have learned to be wary I think of nutritional "studies" but it's taking them longer to catch on to the farcical nature of modern psychology. Which really IMO hasn't come that far from psychoanalysis of a few decades ago. And how could it? All of psychology is based on subjective, non-experimental, non-verifiable, non-reproducable data. We're watching all of our institutions collapse because it turns out not only are they (and individuals in our society) excessively interdependent, but they're also houses of cards...
- dmoy 7y agoWhat data shows median net worth around $100k? Does that include a house? Median household savings discluding a house, at retirement age, is just barely $100k (that is, enough to support retirement income above social security of a wopping ~$5k/year).
- ikeboy 7y agoFederal reserve including all assets and subtracting all debts. If you owe 300k on your house that's worth 400k, you might have a liquidity problem but you aren't poor.
- dmoy 7y agoTrue but you might have a hard time covering an emergency $1k expense. There's also a colloquial phrase for it - house poor.
- mattkrause 7y ago"Liquidating" a house is slow and relatively expensive. You're probably losing a decent chunk of that $100k if done in a rush (and of course, you need somewhere else to live too). Another chunk of that $100k is probably tied up in a car, which has the same problems.
- ikeboy 7y agoSure, but credit is cheap and easy. You can get a HELOC easily.
- oroul 7y agoCan you provide a link to your source on the 100k net worth figure?
- ikeboy 7y agohttps://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/14/the-net-worth-of-the-average-american-family.html https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/14/the-net-worth-of-the-average...