"A Sad State Of Affairs" - Two-Thirds Of Americans Have No Emergency Savings
Submitted by Jim Quinn via The Burning Platform blog,
Whenever I see one of these stories about how little Americans have available for an emergency, my blood starts to boil. I understand that poor people making $25,000 per year are forced to live paycheck to paycheck. But when 63% of all Americans can’t handle a $500 emergency, and 46% of households making over $75,000 can’t handle a $500 emergency, then they are just plain stupid, frivolous, and incapable of distinguishing between wants and needs. Delayed gratification is a trait almost non-existent among Americans today.
The first thing that infuriates me is the assumption that a $500 car repair or house repair is an unexpected emergency. It’s a fucking living expense. It’s not a fucking surprise. Your car will need new tires every few years. That’s $500 or more. Your hot water heater, air conditioner, roof, windows, etc. will need to be replaced. Everyone gets sick. That is not unexpected. Anyone who lives their life as if these expenses are a shocking surprise is a blithering idiot. And this country is crawling with blithering idiots.
So the majority of Americans can’t handle a $500 expense, but for the last two years there have been 35 million new cars “sold” to blithering idiots on credit or leases. Even though they have no money, they decide it’s a brilliant idea to commit to a 7 year payment of $300 to $500 per month on an asset that declines in value rapidly. Morons abound. These are the same people who must have their Starbucks coffee every day. These math challenged boobs could defer buying a Starbucks coffee every day, save the $3, and accumulate $750 of emergency savings in one year.
Most Americans are one paycheck away from the street
Most households struggle to cope with financial surprises.
Americans are starting 2016 with more job security, but most are still theoretically only one paycheck away from the street.
Approximately 63% of Americans have no emergency savings for things such as a $1,000 emergency room visit or a $500 car repair, according to a survey released Wednesday of 1,000 adults by personal finance website Bankrate.com, up slightly from 62% last year. Faced with an emergency, they say they would raise the money by reducing spending elsewhere (23%), borrowing from family and/or friends (15%) or using credit cards to bridge the gap (15%).
This lack of emergency savings could be a problem for millions of Americans. More than four in 10 Americans either experienced a major unexpected expense over the past 12 months or had an immediate family member who had an unexpected expense, Bankrate found. (The survey didn’t specify the impact of that expense.) “Without emergency savings, you may not have money to cover needed home repairs,” says Signe-Mary McKernan, senior fellow and economist at the Urban Institute, a nonprofit organization that focuses on social and economic policy. “Similarly, without emergency savings, people could raid their retirement account.”
The findings are strikingly similar to two other reports, one by the U.S. Federal Reserve survey of more than 4,000 adults released in 2014. “Savings are depleted for many households after the recession,” it found. Among those who had savings prior to 2008, 57% said they’d used up some or all of their savings in the Great Recession and its aftermath. And another survey of 1,000 adults released last year by personal finance website GOBankingRates.com found that most Americans (62%) have less than $1,000 in their savings account (although that doesn’t include retirement or other investment accounts).
Why aren’t people saving? Millions of Americans are struggling with student loans, medical bills and other debts, says Andrew Meadows, a San Francisco-based producer of “Broken Eggs,” a documentary about retirement. Central bankers hiked their short-term interest rate target last month to a range of 0.25% to 0.50% from near-zero, but that’s still a small return for savings left in bank accounts. Indeed, personal savings rates as a percentage of disposable income dropped from 11% in December 2012 to 4.6% in August 2015, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, and now hover at 5.5%.
More money and education can help. The latest Bankrate survey found that savings increased with income and education: Just 46% of the highest-income households ($75,000-plus per year) and 52% of college graduates lack enough savings to cover a $500 car repair or $1,000 emergency room visit. And while those figures could still be lower, Americans are willing to cut back on at least some expenses when money is tight: 58% say they’re “very/somewhat” likely to cut back on eating out, are likely to decrease their cable bill and 41% are likely to spend less on coffee at places like Starbucks, while 39% will seek out lower-cost cellphone bills.
But while unemployment is falling (5% in November 2015 versus 5.8% in November 2014) and the Affordable Care Act has given an estimated 16.4 million people access to medical care, the amount of wealth held by the middle class is shrinking. The share of income held by middle-income families has plunged to 43% of households in 2015 versus 62% in 1970, according to a report released last month by the nonprofit think tank Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C.
* * *
There are millions of brain dead Americans who are going to reap a whirlwind of consequences when this shit show implodes. They’ll be wailing and gnashing their teeth when their years of living for today catches up to them. Too fucking bad. The only way to accumulate wealth is to spend less than you make. It’s a lesson they failed to heed, and they will regret it for the rest of their pitiful lives.
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Fiat. Pah!
It all depends what you are saving for and with.
That's not the point of the article.
Otherwise the title would have been "People that don't have savings are losers."
Personally I believe the above numbers are exaggerated by a large percentage.
But that stills leaves millions that live paycheck to paycheck. That by itself is a major, massive clue which you should embrace for long term planning. In addition, whatever the actual numbers, you know for a fact, they they will only increase because that is the trend and its primarily because of fraudulent and corrupt government has policies that exacerbate our economic demise.
A better poll would be to ask how many people believe that our welfare safety net, will always be there, despite our Ponzi scheme budget financing.
The answer to your welfare safety net question will be: tax the rich! If Uncle Sap can't pay for it, it's only because those mean people making over (insert here an ever-decreasing amount) don't pay their fair share.
Remember when only landowners could vote?
I don't blame the poor for being poor.
90% of them are guilty of nothing more than believing the wrong people.
I'd throw the broad in the picture a shot for $500... problem solved on her end. I get something out of it... everyone walks away happy. Ahhhh, Capitalism at its finest.
I'll outbid that another 100.
Yeah, capitalism is bitchin'!
You lose!! I'll offer $1k and talk her into a having a weekly relationship for say $200/visit. If you're discrete and pleasant you can keep it going for quite a while.
:)
I can be discrete...
The problem is the women who don't have financial discipline and can't manage their money, don't have any feeding discipline and can't manage their weight either.
How much you going to pay a unattractive blob for services rendered?
It is a scientific fact that fat chicks give the very best head. After all, if they had a gag reflex they wouldnt be so fat. Plus they're so happy to get some sex they'll do just about anything you say.
Moron. Physical size has nothing to do with financial discipline. There are folks who are obese who have savings and there are skinny ones who have tons of credit card debt.
You can't relate size with savings habits.
Dig chubby chicks, huh.
Of course you can.
The lower classes have a higher percentage of overweight/obesity, poor eating habits, poor health habits and poor spending habits.
And whenever they get $20 bucks they spend it on smokes, "energy drinks", liqueur, processed corporate shitfood and deep fried food even when better alternatives are the next aisle over.
I know, I see it every day.
This should come as a shock to nobody, the American population, by and large has been completely hollowed out.
http://schiffblog.blogspot.ca/2016/01/fed-is-playing-dangerous-game-schi...
PowerBall baby!!!
Ah. Another shaming article. Love it.
Tell me, Mr. Quinn. How is one supposed to oursave the printing and the corollary inflation these days?
Savings are not important. I've got 14 credit cards, 9 of which are maxed out to the tune of $72,000. At this point I pay only the minimum due each month - from cash advances on my remaining cards. When I've got all of them maxed out I'll stop paying and get a fresh start with bankruptcy. Taxpayers and the banks can deal with the mess.
My long term plan for later years is to always vote for the candidates offering the most freebies. Ultimately, we're all in this together and need to support and be our brothers' keeper.
I don't mean this personally, but fuck you in the mouth.
Sincerely,
The Taxpayer
I got tits. Why would I need savings?
Unless you have three of them,so does half the population.
I've seen the men in America ... I think they raise the total to about 85%
"Bob had bitch tits."
Let me tell you something about Tits... It's 100% true. For a $5000 investement ($15k if you want it done right), a decent looking woman can reap $dividends up one side & down the other, 50 ways 'til Sunday, 365 days a year. It is hands-down, ~the~ best investment a girl can make. Opens doors that would othewise remain shut - nay, ever even appear...
'Bolt-ons': $5000 (and you attract the commensurate 'clientele')
'Done right' (The Jap surgeon's have it down to a science...): $15,000
Following that, trim down, dress classy and 'name your price'...
100% correct, both males and females know it, but the ones that will downvote you are the females that can't handle the truth. Or, they are JEALOUS of the truth which is basically the same thing.
Fergawdsakes, why be jealous? Mine are 36DDs and they're REAL, and they didn't cost no $15k.
If I downvoted you, it was because I've found that the guys who only want some titty action are serious losers...no matter how much cash they have to throw around. You know (or maybe you don't) what they say about thinking with the wrong head.
You're missing the picture dingbat. Titties aren't just for attracting a bee. If you're willing to display they, they will subliminally affect any transaction with a male.
A female with a nice pair makes an excellent realtor, excellent yacht sales person, etc, etc, etc, and over the course of the lifespan those tits will have an INCREDIBLE return on investment IF they are showcased properly at the proper time.
The best return on investment for a male, BAR NONE, is a vasectomy.
FUCK ALL THE DOWN VOTERS, you're too dim witted to be based in reality. More based on emotion which is worthless.
IDK, I always thought Frankentits were pretty gross; some scarred up plastic monstrosity -I also see it as a sure sign of a girl with nothing to offer, a cheap grifter, or a disorder of some kind; how nature says 'do not touch'. That's just me though.
Unfortunately though, the entire premis is 100% valid. Fake tits = riches, from and for a certain class at least. But, hey -what's a little silicone between FRN's?
Until you're 40. Then what happens for the next 45 years?
Joan Rivers' face looked like the Joker toward the end...... it ain't pretty.
You hang out at raunchy bars and try to pick up guys a third your age. Maybe you even get a street name like "Big Bertha" or something.
Saw Greta vanSustren the other day on TV and hadn't seen her in years. OMG.... joker face there too! What's with the eyebrows pointing toward the North pole and eyes like Cartman? We all get old, but only a few get old and look stupid at the same time.... ;-)
Check these jokers out:
http://marilynmonroeplastic-surgery.blogspot.com/2012/11/joan-van-ark-pl...
http://marilynmonroeplastic-surgery.blogspot.com/2012/11/joan-rivers-pla...
These are hilarious!
Because as your nipples start to point at the floor, your ability to leverage those knockers will decline as well.
Laptop, cellphone, granite countertops and young? Go figure. Most find themselves where they put themselves. "you mean I gotta pay for stuff I put on the card"?
OH, I thought you said "lap dance." I really need to read these posts more closely.
We went from keeping up with the Joneses to keeping up with the Kardashians. I've never been into buying the latest neat thing , just because. Too bad entire generations have been trained by the Pavlov school of advertising, and can't understand the concept of being debt free......
You could say the same thing for Gramps living off of social security. Planning with miniscule time horizons knows not an age.
I'd happily pay her $500 for some services.
Is that for a half hour or a full hour?
You're business sense is horrible. The hooker's Christmas specials were down to $50 for the half hour around me.
A week and not just for what you're thinking.
http://depositphotos.com/23045530/stock-photo-brunette-looking-worried-o...
Standard Disclaimer: And now available in a multi-ethnic flavor as well...
+1
$50 for a half hour? I wonder if they'd let me bank 20-25 minutes of that time and withdraw it incrementally?
Yes but I buy everything on sale so I'm saving money all the time!
/s
and cash back. more/s
What a coincidence. Most American men have tits too. And they also have no savings. Zzzzzzzziiiiiiiiiinnnnggggggg!
Why do men have tits?
Fast food, GMO's, lack of exercise. The standard slovenly lifestyle of the Amercian male. Bitch tits are everywhere.
More specific: Why do men have nipples?
Good goddamn question!
Mammary ridges (aka milk lines). Unavoidable embryology.
PS your scrotum is my labia
Hey! I'm trying to eat lunch here!