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Financially, it sounds pretty bad and unstable: > more than a third of Americans said they could not cover an unexpected $400 home repair or hospital bill wit

Financially, it sounds pretty bad and unstable: > more than a third of Americans said they could not cover an unexpected $400 home repair or hospital bill without going into debt > a third of U.S. adults say they are having difficulty covering everyday costs such as food, rent or car payments > survey after survey for years has found that most people in the U.S. live paycheck to paycheck. https://www.npr.org/2020/12/16/941292021/paycheck-to-paycheck-nation-how-life-in-america-adds-up https://www.npr.org/2020/12/16/941292021/paycheck-to-paychec...

bluGill 6y ago
I know couples where both are doctors - household income it closer to a million/year - who still live paycheck to paycheck and have problems covering everyday costs like food and the car payments. You understand that the car payment are high end luxury cars. They also have the boat payment, the mansion payment. Even at that they might be okay if they weren't buying other toys every months with everything that might or might not be leftover. Understand too that trouble paying for food means the cheap takeout joint instead of the most expensive restaurants. The point is if you don't take care there are a lot of things to spend money on. The poor in my experience tend to do slightly better with savings - they too have harder problems, but having had to live with nothing - instead of what feels like nothing but is really a lot - they will attempt to have some backup plans for when the money doesn't reach the end of the month.
conductr 6y ago
It's frequently the people that are unstable because they just don't save. I always think of my brother in law when I see stats like this. He would definitely answer truthfully YES to all 3 points while I would say NO to all 3. BUT somehow, > He buys every new apple product on release day > He's had 3 brand new cars while I've driven my current car (my car is 8 years old now) > We can plan a family vacation 18 months out and when time comes he can't manage to pay for a <$1000 flight > He gets an inheritance and immediately posts pictures about shopping trips (it was ~$40K) while not being able to pay for flights I mentioned above > His only kid goes to a private school that he can't afford so has to be on payment plan which cost 10% more > He does "debt consolidation" then maxes out his credit cards > His household income is about ~$150K and they live in a small affordable town Also he's in 40s and married with a kid. I think this is pretty "average" behavior unfortunately for Americans though.

bluGill 6y ago

I know couples where both are doctors - household income it closer to a million/year - who still live paycheck to paycheck and have problems covering everyday costs like food and the car payments. You understand that the car payment are high end luxury cars. They also have the boat payment, the mansion payment. Even at that they might be okay if they weren't buying other toys every months with everything that might or might not be leftover. Understand too that trouble paying for food means the cheap takeout joint instead of the most expensive restaurants. The point is if you don't take care there are a lot of things to spend money on. The poor in my experience tend to do slightly better with savings - they too have harder problems, but having had to live with nothing - instead of what feels like nothing but is really a lot - they will attempt to have some backup plans for when the money doesn't reach the end of the month.

conductr 6y ago

It's frequently the people that are unstable because they just don't save. I always think of my brother in law when I see stats like this. He would definitely answer truthfully YES to all 3 points while I would say NO to all 3. BUT somehow, > He buys every new apple product on release day > He's had 3 brand new cars while I've driven my current car (my car is 8 years old now) > We can plan a family vacation 18 months out and when time comes he can't manage to pay for a <$1000 flight > He gets an inheritance and immediately posts pictures about shopping trips (it was ~$40K) while not being able to pay for flights I mentioned above > His only kid goes to a private school that he can't afford so has to be on payment plan which cost 10% more > He does "debt consolidation" then maxes out his credit cards > His household income is about ~$150K and they live in a small affordable town Also he's in 40s and married with a kid. I think this is pretty "average" behavior unfortunately for Americans though.