>> The "40% don't have $400 for an emergency" statistic is tired at this point, but it's telling here The survey didn't indicate that 40% didn't have $400 for

>> The "40% don't have $400 for an emergency" statistic is tired at this point, but it's telling here The survey didn't indicate that 40% didn't have $400 for an emergency, it indicated that if they had a $400 emergency, 61% of people would use short term cash to pay for it. 27% would use some other means to pay for it - for example put it on a credit card and worry about it later. That didn't necessarily mean they didn't have $400 in cash, it just meant they would use some other way to deal with the emergency. 12% said they wouldn't be able to come up with the money. >> This article is great advice for the shrinking middle-class, but it comes off as tone-deaf for a growing majority of Americans. The majority of people leaving the shrinking middle-class are leaving it to join the upper class. Not that the lower class isn't growing also, it is, the middle class is indeed hollowing out, but more middle class people are getting richer than getting poorer. From a personal perspective, I invested money in a 401K when I was working class, with the goal of letting it compound for many decades. I'm guessing that people with that mindset are less likely to stay working class, and I have no idea where I got that mindset. Certainly not from my parents or siblings, they were all the normal get the paycheck, spend the whole paycheck type.