1 in 3 Americans can't come up with $2,000 in an emergency

But they expect everything to be free for them because it's only fair. Like health care etc. Someone else has to fund their bad life choices.

In the words of Wimpy, which still hold true today: I'll gladly pay you Tuesday, for a hamburger today.

Obama made them pay for health care. It's Trump who doesn't think they should have to.

Eight men have a net worth greater than the combined net worth of the poorest 3,600,000,000 on the planet.

For starters, I am not a Ron Paul guy, but this issue is largely due to the Fed. When I was a kid, you could put $200 in the bank and earn 5% interest. Everyone saved because it was a good deal. Also, credit card interest rates were generally very high. People would just use credit cards for convenience or as mini bridge loans to get them to the next paycheck. People rarely carried a balance for very long. And credit card issuers were pretty picky.

Now, savings accounts pay about .012%, which is just a fancy way of saying nothing. In fact, putting money in a savings account loses money due to inflation. But anyone with a pulse can get a credit card with an interest rate of 11.9% and play the balance transfer game to pay off high balances at 0%. So, why would anyone lock up their money in savings to have it get eaten up by inflation when you can just put any big unexpected expense on a credit card and pay it off at 0% interest and let the bank watch inflation eat up the money they loaned you.

IndyJ wrote:

vivalarepublica wrote:

Food as social currency, never realized that before. Eating out all the time struck me as giant waste of money, so I don't bother with it much. I enjoy sandwich every now and then, but that's about it.

It's all that urban millennials ever talk about.

I'm thinking Dorsia.

IndyJ wrote:

The story also notes that 1/3 of Americans could not handle a $100 unexpected medical bill (or any kind of bill, I guess) without having to go into debt for it.

Someone who is asked in a survey if they could handle a $100 unexpected expense will not think nearly as creatively about the problem as someone who is actually facing the issue in real life. I'm pretty much broke at the moment, but I'm sure I have $100 worth of stuff I could sell to cover a one-time emergency.

I'm a bit perplexed as to how the exact same percent of the population falls into both the "can't come up with $2,000" and the "can't get their hands on $100 without going into debt" categories. Raising $2,000 (even if debt is allowable) seems way more challenging than coming up with $100 sans debt. If I don't have $100 in reasonably liquid assets, I don't know how I am going to pay half that amount every single month for the next five years in debt service.

Precious Roy wrote:

Now, savings accounts pay about .012%, which is just a fancy way of saying nothing. In fact, putting money in a savings account loses money due to inflation. But anyone with a pulse can get a credit card with an interest rate of 11.9% and play the balance transfer game to pay off high balances at 0%. So, why would anyone lock up their money in savings to have it get eaten up by inflation when you can just put any big unexpected expense on a credit card and pay it off at 0% interest and let the bank watch inflation eat up the money they loaned you.

Wait, are you saying you shouldn't save money because inflation will just outpace the interest? Better to spend it all because you won't have to pay interest on the credit you use? Guess I should go spend all my savings on stuff, wouldn't want to lose out. BTW, you can get online savings accounts at least 1% (granted that's not much, but way better than 0.012%) to basically match inflation.

[/quote]I'm thinking Dorsia.[/quote]

Good luck getting a reservation...

You may not want to pay half that amount every single month for the next five years, but, in a pinch, it surprises me that 1/3 of people would not have access to $2,000 in available credit on their credit cards, for example.

Sad, I guess if you want to be a normal American you will fit right in with the people surveyed. However, there are lots of us out here who choose to be strange by paying off all our debt and choosing to live without utilizing the "easy credit" that is out there. Barring unforeseen catastrophic medical emergency, we will never use credit again. Highly recommend people read Dave Ramsey's "Total Money Makeover" or better yet, take his "Financial Peace University" class.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZ5lpy4jMKk&t=6s

My wife and I worked 3 jobs each and paid off $100k in debt in two years, we have decent, but not real high paying jobs. Most people choose to live beyond their means and are too lazy to pay attention to financial details.

triathleteguru wrote:

Sad, I guess if you want to be a normal American you will fit right in with the people surveyed. However, there are lots of us out here who choose to be strange by paying off all our debt and choosing to live without utilizing the "easy credit" that is out there. Barring unforeseen catastrophic medical emergency, we will never use credit again. Highly recommend people read Dave Ramsey's "Total Money Makeover" or better yet, take his "Financial Peace University" class.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZ5lpy4jMKk&t=6s

My wife and I worked 3 jobs each and paid off $100k in debt in two years, we have decent, but not real high paying jobs. Most people choose to live beyond their means and are too lazy to pay attention to financial details.

Some debt is good debt. Buying a home was good debt for us. My student loans were good debt for us.

How did you amass $100k in debt without living beyond YOUR means?

IndyJ wrote:

Some debt is good debt. Buying a home was good debt for us. My student loans were good debt for us.

Good debt, or good investment? I think the mindset difference between the two is the problem many Americans have with the use of credit & debt.

Nice.

Try getting a reservation at Dorsia in this economic climate.

justsomerunner wrote:

IndyJ wrote:

Some debt is good debt. Buying a home was good debt for us. My student loans were good debt for us.

Good debt, or good investment? I think the mindset difference between the two is the problem many Americans have with the use of credit & debt.

I don't think about the house as an investment. I think about it as a place to raise my family and live and spend most of my time at. If it turns out to be an investment, so be it. But considering how much of my monthly payment goes to interest, it's really not much of one, in the long run.

IndyJ wrote:

The story also notes that 1/3 of Americans could not handle a $100 unexpected medical bill (or any kind of bill, I guess) without having to go into debt for it.

Yikes.

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/22/1-in-3-americans-could-not-come-up-with-2000-in-an-emergency.html

The Big Fed found nearly half couldn't find $400 for an emergency

Read at p. 17

The Gallant Pig Man wrote:

IndyJ wrote:

1/3 of Americans could not handle a $100 unexpected medical bill (or any kind of bill, I guess) without having to go into debt for it.

Yikes.

And yet, many Republicans think most Americans will be able to sock away enough money in health savings accounts to pay for things like chemotherapy.

Any yet, Republicans are actively interrupting people's ability to save for retirement (see below).

And yet, many Republicans want to gut every possible government program meant to help the financially insecure and deregulate lenders who prey on them.

And yet, many Republicans do not believe that workers should receive higher wages, overtime pay, or any form of paid leave, and want to decrease the amount of money available to people who get injured at work.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/get-there/wp/2017/02/27/congress-could-pump-the-breaks-on-these-new-retirement-plans/?utm_term=.3fde2fe43a9f

Therefore we should tax wage earners more, to enable the freeloaders

I live week to week right now.I had 200k in savings and a child custody War took that.So they are reasons people are like that.Crap happens!!!