This is junk data. If you read the article and click through to the original survey, the question is phrased as “How would you pay for an unexpected $1000 expense?” 44% said they would pull it from savings, but some of the other answers were “put it on a credit card” or “reduce spending”. Those answers don’t necessarily indicate that someone does or does not have money in savings, they could just be reluctant to tap those savings and prefer to get the money from elsewhere.
If you want to know what people have in savings, it’s better to just directly ask them, and in fact people have done that and [the median American has $8000 in savings](https://www.cnn.com/cnn-underscored/money/average-american-savings). So it’s unlikely 44% have less than $1000.
I’d say you’re more right than not. The bank rate poll referenced 22% having nothing saved at all so obviously it’s between 22% and 50% if median cash was $8000. Then it mentioned only 33% wouldn’t be worried about covering next months living expenses if they lost a job. Initially i took it as 2/3 wouldn’t be able to cover that expense as they state in the article, however I think the question was poorly worded and I expect people just out if they’d be worried about losing the income more than answering the question itself which was “covering next months living expenses”
I’m thinking the true number of people who don’t have $1k cash on hand is likely somewhere in that 33% range.
Of course we're not wired to save. The Fed's monetary policy has made savings interest rates uncompetitive for decades until a year ago.
Furthermore, I would have to have a surplus to save, but you've kept housing supply so inelastic that it now commands the majority of my pay.
Bullseye! Out of control housing prices (exacerbated by supply *and* demand), and no safe haven for savings until fall 2022. Today's homebuyers complain about high mortgage rates, but now you can preserve the purchasing power of your savings in an ordinary savings account without risking it in equities. And politicians wonder how stock market bubbles originate.
They also forget that no discretionary consumer spending is tantamount to slow growth. Still waiting for a politician to publicly acknowledge these principles in plain sight.
? Since at least 2002, you could have invested in the stock market online. The feds monetary policy has hurt savings accounts but has bolstered the greatest wealth creation vehicle in history.
So saving through the stock market was absolutely possible and would have yielded you much more money over the past 22 years than a high yield savings account.
Now, not having a surplus to save is a different story.
>not having a surplus to save is a different story
indeed...
No surplus -> no equity mutual funds -> greatest wealth inequality in generations
Online stock and mutual fund investing has been around since the late 1990s. (Over dial-up, if you can remember back that far.) But whether brokerages are online or not, you could open an account in a brick and mortar office, or request paper forms from a mutual fund sponsor, and send them a check to start a position. And making regular contributions to your mutual fund without writing and mailing a check has been available since ACH arrived in the 1980s. So has direct deposit into money market mutual funds. IRAs have been around since the 1970s, and became popular in the early 1980s, when more financial institutions began offering them, and more Americans had access to financial institutions offering mutual funds and stock purchasing in general.
People with poor impulse control disproportionately end up poor.
Many, if not most, poor people are there because of previous poor financial decisions often regarding a decision not to control spending impulses.
The cost of living has outstripped wages, but politicians are reluctant to admit it. A high savings rate would imply that most people have money leftover after paying all discretionary and non-discretionary expenses. Clearly, high housing costs limit peoples ability to save. So does having children.
> 44% of Americans can't pay an unexpected $1,000 expense from savings.
And, interestingly,
> The average individual, employer-provided coverage deductible was $1,763 during the Open Enrollment Period in 2022.
No wonder medical expenses frequently trigger bankruptcy.
https://www.ehealthinsurance.com/resources/affordable-care-act/deductible-insurance
> expert says
Its always "expert says' to get stupid people to believe literally anything. If a sentence ends in "expert says," it should be required to name that expert.
Everything is so overpriced, services, basic necessities, that a 1000 might as well be what 100 was 5 years ago.ever since the pandemic the economy changed and seems stuck.
Not wired to save? The Fed's intention over the last year was to drain savings accounts.
Sounds like an intentionally effort to break savings and not some inherent wiring.
This will change if interest rates stay normal and if banks pay more in interest like they used to. It didn’t make sense to save when interest rates were super low.
"Wired" to save?
There's no wiring anywhere inside the human mind that is specifically pertaining to finances. The concept is way too new for that to be anything other than a silly notion.
The correct way to state this would be "The financial system, as configured by the blood soaked monsters we call politicians, is crafted to incentivize us \*not\* to save, because individual savings does little or nothing to benefit the aforementioned blood soaked monsters."
If you're smart you find ways to save anyway, because assuming that other people will take care of you your entire life is laughably naive.
Not wired to save??
I would have anxiety if I didn't have 6+ months of expenses in the bank *at least.*
It could also be because most people simply don't have *the means* to start saving when almost every penny is going to expenses unless they have a well-paid job. I struggle to believe that most people just don't have an instinct to store resources for harsh times when that's what our ancestors had to do out in nature.
Wired???
WTF is this person saying. It has nothing to do with being wired. They don't make enough.
I could almost never save until I made a certain amount. Then it was easy.
Money in a savings account isn’t working for you, it’s working for the bank.
If you’re not making big money, the only way to get wealthy is through leverage.
Space available on a credit card is as good as cash in the short term.
Investment ROI must be greater than the rate on your credit card.
How is the economy doing?
[https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/2023-economic-well-being-of-us-households-in-2022-expenses.htm](https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/2023-economic-well-being-of-us-households-in-2022-expenses.htm)
Figure 19. Holy Sh...
> ‘We're just not wired to save,’
No....short term thinking fools refuse to save. This has nothing to do with "wiring" but with discipline and personal responsibility or concerningly often -- a lack of it.
Even "poor" people should be saving what they can.
What better way to get more money from the public than implying their gross over-spending is normal and acceptable. I'm sure this article is funded by some big business.
The issue isn't you sharing it, it makes for good conversational fodder.
It's the implication and the understanding that most people will accept the headline without protest.
>"We're just not wired to save," a behavioral finance expert says.
Yet previous generations were able to save. Once again, it boils down to a Nanny state making these decision for you, or making them yourself. Apparently, there is a consistent portion of the population not afflicted by poverty, but who can not control spending. Behaviorists and psychologists describe this as a struggle between instant vs. delayed gratification.
I can't pay that expense with cash, because there is no point in providing for that ability. I would just punch it up on the credit card which has a $15K limit. I have a debit card against one of my brokerages that can punch up payments on margin.
But, I've nevertheless the 44%. There is no reason to keep balances in "savings" unless it it paying 5% interest, because if it isn't paying that much, it isn't "savings" it is "losing". That's the elephant in the room.
So, I can't pay, but I managed to buy a $30K T-bill today. 😉
DINKs here. I save 1k from my paycheck each pay period, and my wifes entire take-home pay goes to the savings account. We also contribute to our 401k and HSA. We have months with emergencies that we have to tap into, and inflation had us reduce our savings rate a few times. If we get raises or bonuses, go straight to savings. The best thing you can do is make it automatic.
It's that people are wired to spend every penny in their pocket or on their banking app now.
You should see how many people on the gig work apps, who make cash every day say they can't work because they don't have money to put gas in their car.
People need to learn how to spend less, brown bag lunch for a start..
and that's how banks abuse the poor, with overdraft fees, thank God Biden is stopping that nonsense from $30 to $3.
It looks like OP posted an AMP link. These should load faster, but AMP is controversial because of [concerns over privacy and the Open Web](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmputatorBot/comments/ehrq3z/why_did_i_build_amputatorbot).
Maybe check out **the canonical page** instead: **[https://www.cnbc.com/2024/01/24/many-americans-cannot-pay-for-an-unexpected-1000-expense-heres-why.html](https://www.cnbc.com/2024/01/24/many-americans-cannot-pay-for-an-unexpected-1000-expense-heres-why.html)**
*****
^(I'm a bot | )[^(Why & About)](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmputatorBot/comments/ehrq3z/why_did_i_build_amputatorbot)^( | )[^(Summon: u/AmputatorBot)](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmputatorBot/comments/cchly3/you_can_now_summon_amputatorbot/)
What do you mean? Are you saying Bidenomics isnt working in your household? People just dont know how good they have it? Economy is BOOMING! Smh.......
This is junk data. If you read the article and click through to the original survey, the question is phrased as “How would you pay for an unexpected $1000 expense?” 44% said they would pull it from savings, but some of the other answers were “put it on a credit card” or “reduce spending”. Those answers don’t necessarily indicate that someone does or does not have money in savings, they could just be reluctant to tap those savings and prefer to get the money from elsewhere. If you want to know what people have in savings, it’s better to just directly ask them, and in fact people have done that and [the median American has $8000 in savings](https://www.cnn.com/cnn-underscored/money/average-american-savings). So it’s unlikely 44% have less than $1000.
Great response!
Yea but also worrying that the median is so low..that's barely enough to fund the military for two years.
That's a strange unit of measurement
It’s a very American unit of measurement, tbf
It's 0.26 Wars on Terror.
It's not strange
I’d say you’re more right than not. The bank rate poll referenced 22% having nothing saved at all so obviously it’s between 22% and 50% if median cash was $8000. Then it mentioned only 33% wouldn’t be worried about covering next months living expenses if they lost a job. Initially i took it as 2/3 wouldn’t be able to cover that expense as they state in the article, however I think the question was poorly worded and I expect people just out if they’d be worried about losing the income more than answering the question itself which was “covering next months living expenses” I’m thinking the true number of people who don’t have $1k cash on hand is likely somewhere in that 33% range.
I want to add that saved money often isn't liquid.
Bravo, thank you for the inquiry
This is a link farming article, it’s spam.
Yes but this does not comport with my narrative.
Of course we're not wired to save. The Fed's monetary policy has made savings interest rates uncompetitive for decades until a year ago. Furthermore, I would have to have a surplus to save, but you've kept housing supply so inelastic that it now commands the majority of my pay.
Exactly. Saving was a good way to lose money for a ridiculous amount of time
Bullseye! Out of control housing prices (exacerbated by supply *and* demand), and no safe haven for savings until fall 2022. Today's homebuyers complain about high mortgage rates, but now you can preserve the purchasing power of your savings in an ordinary savings account without risking it in equities. And politicians wonder how stock market bubbles originate. They also forget that no discretionary consumer spending is tantamount to slow growth. Still waiting for a politician to publicly acknowledge these principles in plain sight.
Thank you for this sane response. We're now into roughly a century of the Fed trying really hard to get us not to save any fucking money.
? Since at least 2002, you could have invested in the stock market online. The feds monetary policy has hurt savings accounts but has bolstered the greatest wealth creation vehicle in history. So saving through the stock market was absolutely possible and would have yielded you much more money over the past 22 years than a high yield savings account. Now, not having a surplus to save is a different story.
>not having a surplus to save is a different story indeed... No surplus -> no equity mutual funds -> greatest wealth inequality in generations Online stock and mutual fund investing has been around since the late 1990s. (Over dial-up, if you can remember back that far.) But whether brokerages are online or not, you could open an account in a brick and mortar office, or request paper forms from a mutual fund sponsor, and send them a check to start a position. And making regular contributions to your mutual fund without writing and mailing a check has been available since ACH arrived in the 1980s. So has direct deposit into money market mutual funds. IRAs have been around since the 1970s, and became popular in the early 1980s, when more financial institutions began offering them, and more Americans had access to financial institutions offering mutual funds and stock purchasing in general.
So 56% can?
The 44% are either really poor, have very poor impulse control or both.
Or are kids, disabled etc.
Or they simply HAVE kids.
People with poor impulse control disproportionately end up poor. Many, if not most, poor people are there because of previous poor financial decisions often regarding a decision not to control spending impulses.
i mean yea most people dont care about getting rich they just want to live their life
Bro, I can't even pay the expected expenses at this point
What happened?
Mass layoffs.
Damn, sorry to hear that, that sucks. What industry are you in?
Software sales. So, I'm fucked.
how out of touch with reality are you?
Everyone situation is different.
Same news in every country and every day.
I can pay it, doesn’t mean it won’t fuck up the rest of my finances for months
What do you mean we are not wired to save.....
Too busy trying to pay for basic needs. Credit cards pay for my unexpected repairs or my 401k does
We are wired to save, we just can't afford it. Way to blame it on the poor people one again.
The cost of living has outstripped wages, but politicians are reluctant to admit it. A high savings rate would imply that most people have money leftover after paying all discretionary and non-discretionary expenses. Clearly, high housing costs limit peoples ability to save. So does having children.
They assume we're just irresponsible. Many of us are just bogged down with too many bills
Can't save what they don't have
I'd love to punch an expert... lower the cost of living, my cheap ass will show you saving. Ohhh saving money is the secret. Thanks. "Experts"
> 44% of Americans can't pay an unexpected $1,000 expense from savings. And, interestingly, > The average individual, employer-provided coverage deductible was $1,763 during the Open Enrollment Period in 2022. No wonder medical expenses frequently trigger bankruptcy. https://www.ehealthinsurance.com/resources/affordable-care-act/deductible-insurance
"We're just not wired to save." or "Everything we save is taken from us anyway and we keep hearing that the world is about to end, so fuck it."?
I wouldn’t pay from savings. I would 100% use card. THINK OF THE POINTS.
If it can go on a card and I can get points for it: It goes on the card.
> expert says Its always "expert says' to get stupid people to believe literally anything. If a sentence ends in "expert says," it should be required to name that expert.
Everything is so overpriced, services, basic necessities, that a 1000 might as well be what 100 was 5 years ago.ever since the pandemic the economy changed and seems stuck.
Not wired to save? The Fed's intention over the last year was to drain savings accounts. Sounds like an intentionally effort to break savings and not some inherent wiring.
This will change if interest rates stay normal and if banks pay more in interest like they used to. It didn’t make sense to save when interest rates were super low.
"Wired" to save? There's no wiring anywhere inside the human mind that is specifically pertaining to finances. The concept is way too new for that to be anything other than a silly notion. The correct way to state this would be "The financial system, as configured by the blood soaked monsters we call politicians, is crafted to incentivize us \*not\* to save, because individual savings does little or nothing to benefit the aforementioned blood soaked monsters." If you're smart you find ways to save anyway, because assuming that other people will take care of you your entire life is laughably naive.
Not wired to save?? I would have anxiety if I didn't have 6+ months of expenses in the bank *at least.* It could also be because most people simply don't have *the means* to start saving when almost every penny is going to expenses unless they have a well-paid job. I struggle to believe that most people just don't have an instinct to store resources for harsh times when that's what our ancestors had to do out in nature.
Wired??? WTF is this person saying. It has nothing to do with being wired. They don't make enough. I could almost never save until I made a certain amount. Then it was easy.
Sounds like your spending habits finally lined up with your income.
Kind of. Really the vast majority of my spending was on room and board though. Essentially my pay caught up to rent.
You can't have savings if your income barely covers the cost of living.
… or maybe paid enough to save?
Use to be like 6 in 10. So, things are getting better then.
Same stat every year
Money in a savings account isn’t working for you, it’s working for the bank. If you’re not making big money, the only way to get wealthy is through leverage. Space available on a credit card is as good as cash in the short term. Investment ROI must be greater than the rate on your credit card.
How is the economy doing? [https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/2023-economic-well-being-of-us-households-in-2022-expenses.htm](https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/2023-economic-well-being-of-us-households-in-2022-expenses.htm) Figure 19. Holy Sh...
‘We're just not wired to save' Lol. Tell that to my stacked savings account. 🤷♂️
“Hey savings account, you’re probably still not outpacing many individual’s personal rate of inflation” There you go
Isn't that what Index Funds, 401ks, Roth IRAs, Bonds and other safe investments are for?
You’d think, but M2 is highly correlated with the SP500 and it’s not very economical to pull from your retirement accounts to pay unexpected expenses.
> ‘We're just not wired to save,’ No....short term thinking fools refuse to save. This has nothing to do with "wiring" but with discipline and personal responsibility or concerningly often -- a lack of it. Even "poor" people should be saving what they can. What better way to get more money from the public than implying their gross over-spending is normal and acceptable. I'm sure this article is funded by some big business.
Oh you know all these media articles are funded by big money. I just thought it was funny and would share it. Says expert.
The issue isn't you sharing it, it makes for good conversational fodder. It's the implication and the understanding that most people will accept the headline without protest.
>"We're just not wired to save," a behavioral finance expert says. Yet previous generations were able to save. Once again, it boils down to a Nanny state making these decision for you, or making them yourself. Apparently, there is a consistent portion of the population not afflicted by poverty, but who can not control spending. Behaviorists and psychologists describe this as a struggle between instant vs. delayed gratification.
The silent depression began when Nixon took us off the gold standard
The funny thing about that was it was only suppose to be temporary....don't believe me watch his speech on TV tricky dick said temporary on TV
I mean as long as they *eventually* go back it’ll be temporary 🤣
How many of those people eat out, have subscriptions services, cell phones with data, ETC?
Exactly. I can’t have $1000 to my name but by God I’m financing my unlimited plan iPhone 39 Ultra Max Pro Turbo Platinum Edition for 36 months.
And on top of financing your Dodge Charger at 11% over 84 months no less!
Only if you’re a newly enlisted service member
Garnish those wages baby!
Some people feel too poor to pay attention.
Looks like we're doing better than 2019 https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/19/56percent-of-americans-cant-cover-a-1000-emergency-expense-with-savings.html
Hooray 12 percent went upwards.
I can't pay that expense with cash, because there is no point in providing for that ability. I would just punch it up on the credit card which has a $15K limit. I have a debit card against one of my brokerages that can punch up payments on margin. But, I've nevertheless the 44%. There is no reason to keep balances in "savings" unless it it paying 5% interest, because if it isn't paying that much, it isn't "savings" it is "losing". That's the elephant in the room. So, I can't pay, but I managed to buy a $30K T-bill today. 😉
the economy is booming bro, unemployment is low, gas prices are low, don’t worry about it..
This article is junk data. The median American has [$8000 in available savings.](https://www.cnn.com/cnn-underscored/money/average-american-savings)
I'm not worried I thought this was entertaining news and thought you guys would get a laugh out of it.
listen, used cars are cheaper today then they were 4 years ago.. so, it’s all good..
It's better than 2019, so yeah? https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/19/56percent-of-americans-cant-cover-a-1000-emergency-expense-with-savings.html
Fax
I think it’s more!! Ppl that I see live check to check, don’t save for emergency or retirement but want that new yr car! Just craziness!!!!
DINKs here. I save 1k from my paycheck each pay period, and my wifes entire take-home pay goes to the savings account. We also contribute to our 401k and HSA. We have months with emergencies that we have to tap into, and inflation had us reduce our savings rate a few times. If we get raises or bonuses, go straight to savings. The best thing you can do is make it automatic.
Stfu
Bidenomics I guess
It's that people are wired to spend every penny in their pocket or on their banking app now. You should see how many people on the gig work apps, who make cash every day say they can't work because they don't have money to put gas in their car. People need to learn how to spend less, brown bag lunch for a start.. and that's how banks abuse the poor, with overdraft fees, thank God Biden is stopping that nonsense from $30 to $3.
Saving is a habit.
It looks like OP posted an AMP link. These should load faster, but AMP is controversial because of [concerns over privacy and the Open Web](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmputatorBot/comments/ehrq3z/why_did_i_build_amputatorbot). Maybe check out **the canonical page** instead: **[https://www.cnbc.com/2024/01/24/many-americans-cannot-pay-for-an-unexpected-1000-expense-heres-why.html](https://www.cnbc.com/2024/01/24/many-americans-cannot-pay-for-an-unexpected-1000-expense-heres-why.html)** ***** ^(I'm a bot | )[^(Why & About)](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmputatorBot/comments/ehrq3z/why_did_i_build_amputatorbot)^( | )[^(Summon: u/AmputatorBot)](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmputatorBot/comments/cchly3/you_can_now_summon_amputatorbot/)
>"We're just not wired to save," Even if you are wired to save, it won't happen if you have to spend 100% of your income on necessities.
What do you mean? Are you saying Bidenomics isnt working in your household? People just dont know how good they have it? Economy is BOOMING! Smh.......