Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
[url=http://money.cnn.com/2017/06/20/pf/emergency-fund/index.html?iid=hp-stack-dom]Americans are saving (a little) more - Jun. 20, 2017[/url]
Can someone explain why, as recently as February of this year, there was an article or two (or more) that said *most* Americans can't come up with cash for a $500 repair whereas this article states 31% can cover 6 months.
There are a lot of people on the bottom of the wage scale for whom that $500 is a significant expense. I don't think it's "most," as in over 50%, but it is a sizable minority.
How I see it is those who don't want to be rocking the boat like that financially will find a way to save, or to get more income. The rest will just make excuses or ask the public for handouts.
Six month stash isn't real savings. Thats a bare minimum emergency fund.
Savings are for planned expenses, emergency fund is for unplanned emergency expenses and should be not touched or spent on fun stuff.
Can someone explain why, as recently as February of this year, there was an article or two (or more) that said *most* Americans can't come up with cash for a $500 repair whereas this article states 31% can cover 6 months.
The Rent Is Too @#$%& High. And homeowners just consume too much.
Six month stash isn't real savings. Thats a bare minimum emergency fund.
Savings are for planned expenses, emergency fund is for unplanned emergency expenses and should be not touched or spent on fun stuff.
I have savings and an emergency fund, but I think statistically speaking I am in a very elite category for having both. I don't think *most* people would see the difference. I don't think *most* people would be able to.
My point was more about the reporting of information. The two articles each say something that aren't very compatible with each other. I would suspect one (maybe both) aren't accurate. And I think it's annoying and a waste of my time to read something that isn't accurate... but of course, you don't know which is accurate...
This sort of dynamic happens in other subjects. One of my favorite blogs to read is a meteorologist named Cliff Mass in the Seattle area. He just wrote a blog post about the media's exaggeration of climate change affect on current weather events. One of the reasons why he says this is bad is because it can unnecessarily create anxiety that isn't warranted.
Personally I would rather the listed article be accurate. I would rather believe that people are becoming more responsible and more cautious. I hope it's the one that's accurate.
Those that are thinkers tend to be wary of the information provided by the Media. Here is a link to what I presume is the "$500" media article as it is the same news source as in your original post in this thread and seems to match the timeline - Majority of Americans don't have $500 in savings - Jan. 12, 2017 .
Just for starters...
The headline says "6 in 10 Americans don't have $500 in savings"
Read further down and it says "Nearly six in 10 Americans don't have enough savings to cover a $500 or $1,000 unplanned expense" which may not be 6 out of 10 and says nothing about how many do not have $500 in savings since it goes up to $1000. "Nearly" doesn't nearly tell us enough. It could be 10% have $499 or less and 43% have $500 to $999 which someone might translate to "nearly 6 in 10".
I am suspect. Beware the slant of the media and posters on these forums. Statistics can and will be slanted to try to further a persons or corporations agenda.
The article also says out of 1,003 adults surveyed which is not a very large sample size in my book. Let alone we are not sure how they picked the adults to be surveyed.
I suppose I could wander over to Bankrate to get more details on the survey but I only have so much time to put into something like this. Though I find it interesting seeing the manipulation.
Can someone explain why, as recently as February of this year, there was an article or two (or more) that said *most* Americans can't come up with cash for a $500 repair whereas this article states 31% can cover 6 months.
Very simple. It illustrates just how pronounced the rich/poor class divide has become in this country. The divide between the "haves" and the "have nots" continues to increase. That is if you believe the statistics spouted.
Can someone explain why, as recently as February of this year, there was an article or two (or more) that said *most* Americans can't come up with cash for a $500 repair
Because coming up with $500 *in cash* vs $500 in a credit is the difference, and not in the way that people can't come up with $500 in cash at all, but that $500 is something most people simply prefer to put on credit rather than save cash. Sort of like asking how many people pay for a lobster dinner with cash vs a credit card.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
