While stocks are still near record highs and the inventory-stuffed picture of economic growth for the US ticks up to its fastest pace in 2 years, Time reports [3] that a study (below) by the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) [4] shows nearly half of Americans are living in a state of “persistent economic insecurity,” that makes it "difficult to look beyond immediate needs and plan for a more secure future." In other words, too many Americans are living paycheck to paycheck... but their findings get worse.
As Time notes,
The CFED calls these folks “liquid asset poor,” and its report finds that 44% of Americans are living with less than $5,887 in savings for a family of four.
The plight of these folks is compounded by the fact that the recession ravaged many Americans’ credit scores to the point that now 56% percent of us have subprime credit.
[5]
That means that if emergencies arise, many Americans are forced to resort to high-interest debt from credit cards or payday loans.
And this financial insecurity isn’t just affected the lower classes. According to the CFED, one-quarter of middle-class households also fall into the category of “liquid asset poor.”
Geographically, most of the economically insecure are clustered in the South and West, with Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Nevada, and Arkansas being the states with the highest percentage of financially insecure.
[6]
Full study below: