"Man that is too close" - my thought
A while back I wrote a post that talked about how 58% of folks could not come up with $2000 if it was an emergency. 25% of people making 75k-100k also could not come up with the $2000 (2k). The lesson in those two facts is that most Americans do not have much savings.
Recently I read a USA Today article that presented the following facts:
2009 2011
No savings 18.5% 23.4%
1-1.5k 21.6% 18.2%
1.6-10k 29.4% 25.4%
10k-50k 18.7% 18.4%
>50k 11.8% 14.6%
So more people have no savings today compared to two years ago. Of the ones that have up to 10k it is even less today than two years ago. Even up to 50k it is less people that have it available. The only group that is getting larger is the group that has more than 50k.
Additionally 10% of families owe more than 30k in unsecured dept. This is up from 8.5% in 2009.
2k is a minor emergency. I believe that even 10k would not cover a major emergency such as a medical problem for which one has to come up with out of pocket funds. Or if a job is lost and no income is coming in, how long can one live off of 10k?
The realy great news is that nearly 50% of families have no debt at all from credit cards and other unsecured loans. So there is a large group that is trying to not get in a hole.
Today's question is:
"How close are you to the no savings edge, and what is your plan to get out of the hole?"
A while back I wrote a post that talked about how 58% of folks could not come up with $2000 if it was an emergency. 25% of people making 75k-100k also could not come up with the $2000 (2k). The lesson in those two facts is that most Americans do not have much savings.
Recently I read a USA Today article that presented the following facts:
2009 2011
No savings 18.5% 23.4%
1-1.5k 21.6% 18.2%
1.6-10k 29.4% 25.4%
10k-50k 18.7% 18.4%
>50k 11.8% 14.6%
So more people have no savings today compared to two years ago. Of the ones that have up to 10k it is even less today than two years ago. Even up to 50k it is less people that have it available. The only group that is getting larger is the group that has more than 50k.
Additionally 10% of families owe more than 30k in unsecured dept. This is up from 8.5% in 2009.
2k is a minor emergency. I believe that even 10k would not cover a major emergency such as a medical problem for which one has to come up with out of pocket funds. Or if a job is lost and no income is coming in, how long can one live off of 10k?
The realy great news is that nearly 50% of families have no debt at all from credit cards and other unsecured loans. So there is a large group that is trying to not get in a hole.
Today's question is:
"How close are you to the no savings edge, and what is your plan to get out of the hole?"
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