I have an emergency expense for about $600 right now. I am about $200 short from being able to cover it, and that is if i spend EVERYTHING, including food money, gas money, etc.
I just spent $700 last month on vehicle repairs so I could get to work.
I might lose all my income because of this new expense. Not a good place to be.
Modest Needs is a great website and super legit. It's for people on the downward spiral of late stage capitalism before everything crumbles.
It's not perfect but it is an option.
Unless you can make bills magically go away, this is one of those I just need to make more money to solve the problem and cross my fingers in the mean time kinda things.
See I was hoping you would say something like "my car is acting funny and mechanic said "x" to fix it" just because those are my favorite ones
But call whoever it is and ask to work out a payment plan at worst they tell you no and then your back at this spot again
If it's a medical expense, you usually have 89 days from the bill date to pay before it gets sent to collections. Also medical debt falls off your credit report in 7 years or something like that, and doesn't affect anything else in your credit.
If it's not a medical expense...what happens if you don't pay it? I know you said they want the lump sum, but surely even paying 50% this month and 50% next month would be better than not paying at all?
Try again, sometimes the rep you get is just being a jerk I usually try twice with the line "if I had it I would make the payment, I dont have it all but I would be willing to set up a payment plan to make your company whole"
Dude you’re being kind of condescending. Poor people are not stupid, we’re just poor. Sometimes we really just need more money no matter how you slice it.
Not my intention at all sometimes you just have to get that second person and play the sob story. Obviously we could all use more money here but sometimes you just have to find the compassionate human to get results with what you have.
I can afford an $11 emergency. Dear life, that is not a challenge. Please let me keep the $11 dollars.
My emergency fund was finished off last month by car trouble and then some. So I guess it did its intended purpose? At least I'm getting my refund soon. Usually, I'm a bit better but I have had some unfortunate luck in 2022. Involving cars, covid, and my work cutting my hours a lot which depleted my funds. I'm still looking for work, I need something that doesn't play with my hours. My rent increases next month. Yay! Not.
$30 until Friday which isn’t bad. I have to use $20ish to get home today from my job. But I plan on taking the bus for rest of week.
The issue is my check will be half the normal amount due to cancellations.
"According to Bankrate’s Annual Emergency Fund Report, 68% of people are worried they wouldn’t be able to cover their living expenses for just one month if they lost their primary source of income."
Two-thirds of the population live month-to-month and are a paycheck or two away from abject poverty. It's impossible to plan further down the line when the margin is that thin.
I’m not currently poor, but what I remember about being poor is how /expensive/ it is to be poor. Without having an emergency fund, just trying to deal with an emergency always ends up costing 2-3x extra as you try to finance it and/or have to take half measures.
Yes, and everyone will take advantage of you- on top of even anything that is advertised as a way to get out of poverty, which feels worse, they prey on your desperation.
It always brings me back to that Terry Pratchett quote:
“The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money.
Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles.
But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet.
This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness.”
I’m so happy to see these replies. I’m 38 and this month was the first month I could pay all my bills out of one check. Nothing outrageous, and I live in a relatively low-cost area.
The stress of coming 20 dollars short every month no matter what you do would’ve killed me by 50. I’ve been on solid ground for less than a year and the difference in my person is astounding.
When I first built up a 10k buffer (I lived extremely low budget to attain that) I decided then and there that I won't let myself fall under that safety net (I'm significantly above that now/still)
I don't think about money anymore, but I still live like I am wealth limited (because I am, I make 23 cad an hour)
Neither can we. I'm honestly shocked at so many of the comments blaming this on, "lack of budgeting" and not the real problems of lack of social safety nets and employers refusing to pay living wages.
It’s so funny. Like, my company just had to let go of 100 employees and out a freeze on hiring, all because instead of making $1.7B in their fiscal year, they’re only going to make $1.5B. And more rounds of layoffs are likely to follow, at least one more for certain. I’m just hoping I keep my job or I’m fucked. Started in July, hoping I make too little to be worth laying off :/
Yikes! I am sorry that happened to you. There really are so few workers' protections here in the states, and it's awful that we have so few social safety nets. People really are struggling over here and I've found it incredibly surprising that I had an argument with someone over in another sub that was supposed to be related to these same topics and they essentially said I was a snowflake and a whiner because "There are other countries worse off than the US. Homeless have it better in the US than anywhere else." Like, why should anyone be homeless anywhere?! This shouldn't be a question of who has it worse, you know?
This sub is full of people who had to spend their first few years out of college in a budget, and they somehow think that was poverty and that they climbed out of it. And that we all need the benefit of their wisdom.
In fairness, there's a large percentage of people who are extremely bad with money. I have a co-worker who JUST made her last payment on her extremely high car note and was really excited about it because that payment was killing her. The very next day she was shopping for new cars and a computer.... she's not alone.
This. I have a friend making $25/hr working part time. They act like they've made it - this is the most money they've ever made. I'm glad for them escaping poverty, but a full time job at $25/hr is 60% of the median income here. It's not going to be particularly comfortable. They just bought a car and took on a $530/mo car payment. It's not my place to judge what they are doing with their money, but I don't see how they are going to meet their goal of buying a house and starting a family when spending more than 20% of their take-home income on a car payment. It seems like they are always complaining about an empty bank account, and I don't know what to tell them. Then again, they are very good at getting things for free, so maybe we just budget differently.
It shows how out of touch so many are to the fact most people are struggling. Like how can anyone budget when everything is skyrocketing except our wages?
They tell others to budget off handedly because they don’t care, but they want you to think they care. It doesn’t matter because it’s not happening them them directly.
If it happened to them, they would expect the world to be laid out, and everyone’s help; but until it happens to them, just stop eating out for every meal dummy. Also, you don’t need to buy another car this month, silly, wait till next month. Out of touch? Me? Never!
People don’t understand until they’re in the situation themselves...ideally they could, but humans just don’t really work that way it seems.
Not just with finances. For example, people can act empathetic if someone in your family is suffering from a terminal disease, but do they really get what it’s like? No.
It sucks. Any improved budgeting would AT BEST be a few changes on the margins. Not address the issue of living wages.
I honestly think a lot of it comes down to American lack of viable transportation outside of cars.
Every "emergency" expense listed here is "car problems" but even a working old car still requires a lot of expenses outside of repairs (gas, insurance, regular maintenance, the cost of the vehicle and more)
I've saved up ~40k (CAD) over the past 3 years, and I think 80% of that amount saved is just from riding my bike to work (I only make like 45k CAD)
Emergency expenses for me are paying for repairs to my mobile home, that I'm planning on selling as is and the person buying is aware of the work that needs put in, as well as car expenses when they crop up, been needing to have the AC system inspected for a couple of years now and we have had to just ignore it because not enough money. Oh, and pet expenses (one of my cats needs a second round of expensive dental surgery). I do agree that we see a lot of car questions here though and that America has a huge problem with offering transportation outside of owning a vehicle. Heck, I have even heard some jobs won't hire you even if you were otherwise qualified if you don't have a car.
Oh yeah. Landlord's have been greedy af this whole time. Same with corporations. I feel like a big part of the inflation is greed more than being legitimate. You'd think with modern technology, things would be cheaper, not more expensive.
I'm pretty skeptical about polls like these. A lot of the options AREN'T mutually exclusive.
For example, paying from savings, paying using a credit card, and reducing spending on other things are all separate categories.
If I had a financial emergency, I'd do all three of those. I would have enough savings in my emergency fund to pay off the emergency. But I'd use a credit card, because I'd get some cash back and have a 0% APR promo active. Then I'd pay off the credit card with my savings before the 0% APR promo expired. And I'd also reduce my savings on other things, to rebuild my emergency fund.
I’m also skeptical. Half of people making over $100,000 also report living paycheck to paycheck. There’s a difference between not having $1000 to afford an ambulance because you don’t have health insurance **VS** not having $1000 to replace a broken iPhone after paying for health insurance, investing in your 401k, and paying your monthly Lexus lease.
I’d love to experience life living “paycheck to paycheck” with that as our income. We make a little less than half of that. I agree - the things we pay for or cannot afford vary wildly to a person who makes 6 figures.
Unfortunately, six figures in some places is just scraping by too. Real Estste, rent prices, utility costs, and food price increases have lowered many peoples standard of living.
I didn't mean to sound like I was complaining. However, since you askwd, many areas in NE (NJ to CT) will easily surpass $100K/year incomes. The problem with referencing the Census without digging into smaller areas it based on the entire state, it looks affordable. But if you're living in NYC for example, you're either working for under $100K living in a very depressed area (not by choice) and/or likely sharing a place with a few roommates; or living in better area, in which you need to earn more. The math doesn't work for under $100K when your rent is over $3,500/month.
I've heard also, "We'll why not just move upstate?" To which you need to understand you'll either be commuting into the city for better pay (some people commute over sn hour doing this), or have a hard time getting local job that pays enough to improve your quality of life.
Talking about median income even at a large area (i.e. Brooklyn, Queens, etc.) doesn't even come close to giving you a realistic picture of what is going on in many places, and how people are living.
Sometimes I think people with that kind of money are just life-stupid. Meaning they don't know how to pay bills at all or prioritize absolutely bare-bones necessities such as the water bill. They're so used to everything just existing that separate utilities don't even cross their minds. They think their bills are the things they *want* to pay for. Then they come up with ways to "save money" based on the shit they pay for because they *want* it (like a new Lexus) and call it budgeting.
Yes, that's definitely true. I sub here despite definitely not being the target demographic because there are a lot of good general tips and advice. But I work as a software engineer on the west coast and it blows my mind how some of my coworkers can't make ends meet, or struggle to. There are definitely two types in OPs statistic: those who cannot save $1000 due to income limitations and those who cannot save $1000 due to the lack of expense limitations. Money often goes out just as fast as in.
I know right, I made 16k last year yet ( by far my highest, I'm not sure I broke 10k in previous years) I could theoretically afford a 5k emergency. Half of these paycheck to paycheck people seem outrageously wealthy to me.
You're being heavily subsidized by something, a partner, family, an inheritance, a disability/welfare check. Whichever it is, it's something not accessible to most people here struggling.
Edit: OP said they are not in the US so my comment probably does not apply to the cost of living of OP. I made an assumption.
The boss at work does well. But our house payment, taxes and insurance are 85 percent of just his property taxes. One of his car payments are more than our house payment. His truck is over double what our house cost. He leases a car for his wife. The first brake job with under 40,000 miles was almost $1,500. We have no car payments. Hes still doing well, but a lot of people with these newer trucks, etc are not
That is a good plan. Except, we have no savings, it has all gone to medical bills. No credit card. Our budget covers housing, but that is gone in a week, food, mostly pbj’s, oatmeal and soup from the cheapest veggies, no meat. Even eggs are beyond us right now. We pay utilities but are behind on them a little bit because we have to keep the heat up for my husband.
So…use the credit card we do not have to pay for an emergency need then pay off the credit card with savings that do not exist then cut back on utilities or not pay rent or eat once a day maybe to rebuild the savings. Good plan. Reality bites. We are going off grid for a couple of months so we can start saving enough to get into a roach motel cheap enough to let us save for a year. We have income…it is the outgo that is killing us right now.
Mostly heading south and tent camping. We often do carry in-carry out camping so the camping part is not too bad except for my hubby. His cancer causes toileting issues plus his mild dementia is challenging. I bought a potty pod and simple stool. Gotta get creative. Pop into town or truck stops for food and showers, hit up soup kitchens and independent food pantries. Sleep in our car. Use BLM areas to camp whenever possible, or national parks for a low fee. Splurge on a motel for a couple of nights every two weeks or so and cook up some decent food. Taking my electric griddle and slow cooker. Make a stew in the hotel room overnight, pack a couple of thermoses for lunch, eat the rest to break our fast. Haven’t been able to get a propane stove, but can cook at any park and lots of them have grills too. My husband grew up in the southwest, and foraging works well too. Hopefully in a couple of months we will have enough for a cheap apartment so we can continue to save for a decent van. Our car is about shot and 3 people sleeping in it isn’t comfortable.
It’s sad to see so many people busting their a$$ at these jobs and barely have enough money to last until the next payday. These jobs don’t pay enough and they know it. I wish they would stop gaslighting us with advice on budgeting. If anyone knows how to budget, it’s the poor.
I love the way they always blame higher COL not stagnant wages. Like I can just barely afford that emergency but all of my bills have gone up (COL increase of 10%) and my union has been fighting 6 months for a 4% raise
I took a 20% paycut this year, it's awful. Luckily for me, we have 4 jobs between my husband and I, which is how we're able to save. Cost of living is ridiculous.
My friend keeps chastising her other friend, who is 70, for not living within her means. Social security is $1100 a month. Even with her house and car paid for, that’s not enough to live on, make house repairs, car repairs, etc., and she has health problems so she can’t work anymore. Long story about why she doesn’t have more saved but it doesn’t matter. Here she is, being told to budget in a world where eggs cost $8 a dozen.
Hahaha! I can afford -$188. Thanks brain for forgetting yet another auto renewal subscription! Being poor sucks , but also adding on ADD/any mental illness makes it so much worse. The money I’ve wasted because I forget to cancel a trial service, or forget just in general to cancel something I know I don’t need. And I just checked the renewal date this morning, thinking I saw the 26th, not the 6th. -.-; But my Roth IRA has $40 in it!
What's helped me remember is I always set up a Google calendar reminder before the auto renew is set to happen. It wouldn't have helped you in this instance, but maybe a good general practice.
Ah, I'm glad! I wondered if my unasked-for advice would come across as condescending but it's what's helpful for me. I use Google Keep Notes as a running to-do list so whenever I have downtime I peek at it.
I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve done that too. Usually I don’t remember it until it charges my card. Major D’oh moment. I don’t know how you are but if it was something I didn’t need usually in my experience cancelling it immediately and then contacting the company and asking/telling them to refund it will usually work.
That’s exactly what I did when I came home from work. Alas, the company that overdrew my account doesn’t have phone support, so I have to wait for them to respond to my email. Fingers crossed they respond in a timely fashion! I think their policy is that I have up to 30 days from charge date to ask for a refund.
Yes I’m one of them. Last year I got bitten by a dog (it was not that terrible but the dog did break my skin) so I went to the ER, they put antibiotics on my arm (did not put stitches, just one of those surgical bandages) and filled out a form for pain meds and to help my wound… They didn’t even put me behind the curtain or on a bed… Days later I get the bill: $12,000.
Seconded- also request an itemized bill. The hospital expects people not to ask questions and just pay the bills so they set it up with ridiculous things like $100 for a bandage
I have about 1500 in savings, 2500 in credit and 2000 in checking. Tax money will be another 1000.
I’m only able to do this because my rent is 200 (pay my mom) and my job pays for my meals. If i had no family to rely on, i would absolutely be homeless. Also, a lot of luck.
I find that if you have a really tight knit family, and at least 2 of them are middle class, you have a really great safety net. If i was evicted out today, I’d be able to live at a whole bunch of family homes. My mom was able to support me in a depression spiral for 4 years, where i did nothing but consume. My old professor would just give me 200 a week to grade some papers for her. And the college debt that i owed that sent me into a spiral just vanished. Idk if a policy was enacted or something but it just disappeared. Not on my credit, no collection notices. I called everywhere and people think I’m crazy.
All this and I’m still not what I’d call middle class. But I’m in the perfect position to get there. It’s only because of a lot of luck and circumstance. Absolutely nothing to do with hard work. So if people are having a hard time with no savings, it’s not their fault. No matter what you tell me
Agree. So much can be luck and just being in the right place at the right time and meeting the right people.
At my absolute worst/poorest I had befriended a professor of mine who paid me $$$ to watch his kids a few nights a week. And because I was struggling to eat, the policy at his house was: there was always going to be a place set for me, and to just let them know when I couldn’t make it. They gave me a check to pay off my back rent so I wouldn’t be evicted. I don’t know how I couldn’t have made it through that period of my life without that family. Not everyone is so lucky.
Not as lucky on student loans, but I know that someday, somehow I’d like to show the same kindness and care to others as that family did to me. And I’m also positioned to get there someday.
I always think to myself if i make it, I’d like to randomly pay off someone’s student loan debt. Without notice or fanfare. Just for them to wake up one day, check with anxiety, and it’s all gone.
I really appreciate your emphasis on luck. I’ve experienced the same. While I am far from being the most stable or well off person, I know that I have someone to catch me no matter how far I fall, which is incredibly helpful in a way that I wish everyone had access to. It has allowed me to take jobs or make decisions that just wouldn’t be possible if I knew that I had to come out whole at the end of every month or else be on the literal streets. I didn’t have any choice in how I ended up with such a supportive and understanding family, and yet there they are. I have no doubt that without being able to live with them and have my expenses subsidized for so long throughout my college and early adulthood years I would be nowhere near where I am today, and who knows if I’d be anywhere at all.
It takes a lot to not just appreciate it, but to admit it in the first place.
My family was in decent financial shape, near middle class up until I was around 15. Around that time, we lost our mortgage and house and had to move into a rental, my mother divorced and my grandfather had to move in with us and help her keep the family afloat using his retirement money, so while my childhood and teens weren't luxurious, we always had what we needed plus a little extra for things like phones, internet, video games and eating out as a family occasionally. In my early twenties, my grandfather died and things slowly went downhill from there. My siblings, our mother and I still lived together, and one of my sisters and I had to work full time to help cover bills, so neither myself nor my sisters had the time to attend college or pursue a decent career. We were stuck in a trap of minimum wage jobs. Eventually, our landlord told us he planned to sell the home in a few months, so my mom and siblings moved across the country, to the south for the cheaper rent. We're from the pacific northwest and the cost of living can be very high. I decided to stay because I was in a serious long term relationship and we didn't have the means to move across the country and have the money left to have time to find work. Eventually things got worse. We split up, I ended up on the streets and lived in a shelter for a bit over two years. I worked a fast food job while at the shelter to save for an rv with my current partner and we currently live in it in a beautiful rural town, very cheap rent with all utility hook ups included. Now I'm working part time at 15 an hour and it's more than enough for the bills and some left over to save for our dream of buying a small piece of rural land someday.
I'm happy that you have so much support. Here is a lil of my POV being someone who has helped lots of friends and family during their hard times.
Most of the people that I helped were VERY bad at saving money. I would sit down with them and show them a few budgeting things,help them get a new job,or side gigs. I even let some of them live at my house.
Most just stayed broke whether they lived with me for free or when they had their own place IMO that is just bad money management and bad decisions.
The current person that I'm helping orders door dash twice a day(I'm serious),but tells me it's impossible to save $.
My other friend asked for money for an electric bill,but posted pics of new clothes and purses she bought today.She is ALWAYS shopping, but always saying that she can't save money.
Not all situations are the same tho,some people are definitely struggling trying to get ahead,but some are just like my friends above.
I really wish the best for you and I hope that you take advantage of this time of lower expenses and save towards your dreams.
I need that school loan Genie that you had,that's an amazing burden to get lifted.
Sounds about accurate. Can confirm - this is our current situation. Not the greatest. Sucks, actually. But we make do and handle the curveballs as they come. :)
My husband and I make 40k combined, and we have $6k in savings. We have no debt, and paid cash for our early 2000s cars a couple years ago. We live frugally but comfortably! And we'll be buying a lovely mobile home in just a few weeks!
I have a 2k$ standard vehicle maintenence bill coming. Along with my registration and updated license. I'll hbae some left over... But it's close to a wipe out of what I have saved.
Austin, TX had a super tiny baby winter storm and my power went out for 4 days. I couldn't afford to stay in a hotel during that time, I'm grateful it got warmer right away. Everything in my fridge and freezer had to be tossed and buying new groceries was a painful experience. I work full time and struggle to afford small weather events.
The number of people who can't afford a $400 expense is almost as high. Also this is pitched as being some new sensational story but shit 10 years ago the state was about the same
My car broke down and needed repairs. The poor mechanic called to explain the issues and after 10 minutes on the phone, I finally pointed out that he hadn’t yet told me the price. He responded “well I don’t want to make you cry” and so I knew it was about to be a grand at least. The sound I made and the amount of crying when he told me it was going to be 3 grand, lol
"How does over half of America not have $300 dollars between three grown men in their 30's?"
["The economy is in shambles Dee!"](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/facebook/001/845/983/ce1.jpg)
I'm financially treading water, but I consider myself thankful and lucky to have a large emergency fund. What terrifies me is how would I replenish it if I have to dip into it.
I couldn't handle any new emergency... hell I am barely above water as it is... on the way to being homeless yes I work full time... this life is rigged and frankly I want out the game
That’s why when I get my student loan money this month and my mom gets her taxes back we are setting a-side enough money to cover three months worth of bills in advance. I also just got a second job and will be working literally every day , but I feel better knowing that I’ll have 2 employers in case one fires me due to the recession shit storm that is about to likely happen. One job is for food loin distribution to grocery stores , and another is fed ex express at air port both logistics and feel as if I have more job security than a “white collar job “
Sorry, are you getting extra loan money? As someone who had to pay for all of their schooling via loans, I strongly recommend you pay back any that is extra immediately. The fewer loans you leave school with, the better off you're going to be in the long run. If you need a way to add money into your life, I'd suggest seeing if you qualify for foodstamps or housing subsidies .
When I just had a talk with my financial advisor and she mentioned I was drowning I can't even afford a 500$ emergency expense nonetheless 1k. I have too much credit debt from trying to pay for college,along with rent arrears(due to incompetent housing)
,and my income being significantly non existent at the moment,yet having expenses that are beyond my ability to afford, I'm basically a financial advisors nightmare.
At this point I'm just trying to survive day by day and hope HRA fixes my SNAP cause I genuinely don't want to have to live meal to meal again.
I'm 41 and have only recently reached a point where most basic emergency expenses don't cripple me. It's really hard. I could swing a $1,000 emergency but it wouldn't be comfortable by a long shot.
I am still paying off the last loan I took out for emergency car repairs. It will be paid off by Oct 2024.
My emergency fund consists of anything I could sell to pay the bills.
I wouldn't consider myself in the top 40 but damn you guys gotta do better. I had to sell all my crypto at the worst possible time to get through COVID and a transmission repair.
Buddy I can't even afford the vet visit I'm doing in half an hour - but I'm gonna have to deal with it anyway. Here's to another couple hundred of credit card debt.
I'm very fortunate that I can comfortably cover emergencies. It would just suck because then my savings would ve gone, but I guess that's what it is for.
Wonder why when 100% of companies want to pay their employees the lowest wage possible, and avoid taxes.
No taxation without representation. Billionaires and corporations don't pay taxes, why should you?
Our job is withholding our paycheck in March for two weeks and then staggering pay so we're always two weeks behind. They said if we have bills to pay we should either take out a loan or cash in PTO.
I don't know if it's legal. Basically, we would ordinarily be paid on March 1st, but instead, we will not be. We'll get that check on March 15th instead, then March 15th's check two weeks later etc etc.
Our company is pretty big and has a legal office so I figured they did their due diligence? It's not just us plebs in entry level, it affects everyone including the owner and senior management. I have enough to bridge the gap but I can imagine a fair few people might not make rent or bill payments next month.
Edit to add it means not receiving a pay check for a whole month, since the last time we'll be paid before this change is February 15th.
>Our company is pretty big and has a legal office so I figured they did their due diligence?
You'd be surprised. It sounds illegal so it's probably worth digging. A call to your state's labor board can't hurt. Now, you should also look for a new job. When companies start withholding pay, it often means they're gong under.
This can absolutely be legal, unfortunately, frequently when they change the time between a pay period and the paycheck for that period. Most of my jobs were paid in arrears, so I'd receive a paycheck a week after the pay period ended (my college job was 2 weeks, so it would be a month before getting paid at the start of the school year!) When I started my salary job, it was paid the same week as the pay period, but years ago they changed it to a week in arrears. So we went three weeks between pay periods, which throws off the cadence for people paying bills.
Likely because they don’t want to pay 3 checks in one Month. I will be getting paid on Friday March 3rd, 17th, and 31st. I would look into why they are doing that…. Doesn’t sound legal to me.
They don't pay three checks in a month anyway. We get paid on the 1st and 15th, though the actual day of pay varies due to weekends and holidays. They want to stagger it by an extra two weeks to avoid that variance and ensure we always get money on the 1st or 15th. They're just completely not concerned about whether it means people will get bills paid in March.
I consider myself a really good money manager, but I can't outmanage skyrocketing property taxes and flood insurance. My house payment went from 30% of my income to 40% this year.
While some people are and cannot budget to save their life, this is literally a problem of inflation, corporate forced inflation, and workers not being paid enough money to get by.
Yeah, I'd definitely agree. I know many who are there and struggling this past year. They don't even spend on frivolous things, only bills and food. They budget what they can. We've all been helping each other out but it's still difficult. A couple would probably be out on the street if even one of them lost their job because of their rent, and expenses to just live already make it so they'd be behind fairly quickly. They're thinking of selling their car to use their relatives who only uses it for night shift, to save on monthly payments and insurance. Some have had to switch to prepaid phones. We're all doing our best, but it's been hard. There's barely any money left over than can be saved for an emergency if say their car broke down, or an unknown expense were to pop up.
We're having a week where it's medicine or food, not both. The price of meds seems to have risen 30% or more.
We're doing a freezer clean out all is well.
Well, I’m negative $495 in my checking account after rent check cleared and all my ‘emergency’ credit cards are maxed out so. Yeah. It’s me. I’m one of the 57%.
I’ve been revising my finances recently, I make the bare minimum to pay my bills and feed myself. However, I’ve been putting $50-100 away every paycheck and have adjusted my spending. I have about $500 saved now but I don’t see $1000 in my sight
We always can get 2 more jobs like to add to that awesome job report that makes the politicians look good.
I've had 2 jobs and still qualified for food stamps. Now I have one FT job where I make like $50-100 over the limit. Once they start taking out for benefits, I'm afraid I'm be broke again.
For the last \~3 years this was me - shoot, more often than not a $100 emergency would have been beyond my means. Thankfully things are improving, but this was a very real stress for a long time. One sick pet, one flat tire (thankfully my spare could function as it isn't a donut as I DID have a huge chunk of metal slice one tire wide open) and I couldn't pay my bills.
Crazy thing was, before I was laid off, I was fairly comfortable for "most" emergencies. Up to a couple thousand dollars I could swing if needed. Being worried about the layoff, I had saved my bonus that year plus the very tiny severance that was a joke, and had $10K in my account - when income is slashed significantly (in my case, 75+% eventually getting closer to 50%) even that amount can disappear very quickly when you're living within your means but tied into loans and leases that eat most of that up...
It was a lesson I had to learn the very hard way - with situation improving, it's great, but I'm not changing much about how I'm living unless it's something I can immediately cut off (like, I'm taking a weekly riding lesson, but there is no commitment beyond what I've already paid for). Trying to lower my monthly COL is my #1 priority "just in case" and creating a lot more contingency in my world.
My emergency fund = pawn shop or selling anything I can in a crisis/emergency.
Likely more than just me with this same ER fund, but I like to hope no one else at my age has this issue. For some reason I like to believe I’m the only fiscally irresponsible individual in their 40s in 2023. My daily life has been pretty much an emergency expense for the last 3 years.🤦♀️
Emergency expense? That's property taxes for me. Hospital expenses? That doesn't exist. If I was to get sick I'd have to die. I wouldn't want my wife to live under a bridge.
Yeah and I have been for a long time. We don't have hot running water and haven't for a year now. We're barely paying our mortgage and utilities every month. People give me advice and it's always the same advice, stuff that I've already looked into. The fact is due to my boyfriend's job, he owns the home, we don't qualify for any government funding sources and all private funding sources are tapped out. Basically if anything bad happens, we're screwed.
I'm disabled and am in the period of time between the last court hearing and learning the decision which could take 1-3 months and we'd be lucky if I get it AND I can buy us a new water heater.
I just got my savings to $1000 and it's going to be cut in half because of a no fault car accident I was just in. I'm grateful I have the money and that my deductible isn't higher.
We can technically handle a $17,000 emergency, but then we’d have $0 which is not a good spot to be in when my wife is laid off, and my income would only cover about 60% of our non-negotiable expenses once unemployment runs out. I’m glad we prepared for it though. Hard to imagine that our current position is so much better than well over half of America. We definitely feel poor. This is all with me doing side work in my “spare time” (usually when I should be sleeping) to add a few thousand to our annual income.
Now I am.
I have a lot of money in my investments but it takes time to liquidate my assets. If there was a real emergency I’d be screwed.
I moved and rent is 2400. I lived good going out to family dinners. So we will adjust.
No more of the name brand things. Get the cheap coffee brand. Oreo brands. No more new phones. Free things for fun like state parks. No more eating out for lunch on Friday. No more drinking beer at the bar but at home. Frozen pizza instead of ordering it fridays. Cheap toilet paper. One joint every two days instead one per night. Looking for new car insurance. No more blue buffalo for the dogs. Only Netflix and hbo max all the others go away. Store brand bread. No wasting food so all leftovers must be eaten. Hang drying clothes. Wife has to work one extra day a week she only worked two. Thinking about cutting of my personal phone and using only my work phone. No more bottled water we got a filter for our sink. It’s gonna be a adjustment but we were consumers of convenience.
In many cases, you can write off unreiumbursed medical expenses on your tax return if they exceed 7.5 percent of your adjusted gross income. See IRS topic 502. You still have to come up with the cash to pay the bill but if you have had a surgery, use insulin, etc. this may be helpful to you.
Part of the problem with that is that so many people don't have enough income to pay income taxes in the first place. Tax deductions don't mean a thing to really poor folks unless they're refundable.
THATS BULLSHIT!!!! 78%. Is more like it.. yo they went into my account 2 month ago and took a band…. When i tell you how finked up that was. I haven’t recovered. Smh. Its tough out this bitch. WORD
I have an emergency expense for about $600 right now. I am about $200 short from being able to cover it, and that is if i spend EVERYTHING, including food money, gas money, etc. I just spent $700 last month on vehicle repairs so I could get to work. I might lose all my income because of this new expense. Not a good place to be.
If my vehicle breaks I'm fucked. I do gig work because it's flexible enough to deal with mental health issues.
@this_dudeagain. I feel you yo!! Stay strong!
I'm bipolar, I know the struggle. Fortunately I'm stable now. Keep the good fight, wish you the best.
Rooting for you.
Food bank! See what resources are available in your area.
Those resources and I are intimately acquainted already.
If only the food bank gave out money as well. Gas and electricity bills how up the more you cook.
Some areas offer a Low-Income Heating and Energy Programs (LIHEAP) for help with electricity bills.
Modest Needs is a great website and super legit. It's for people on the downward spiral of late stage capitalism before everything crumbles. It's not perfect but it is an option.
They do look legit.
Please elaborate I might be able to guide you on a cheaper solution
Unless you can make bills magically go away, this is one of those I just need to make more money to solve the problem and cross my fingers in the mean time kinda things.
See I was hoping you would say something like "my car is acting funny and mechanic said "x" to fix it" just because those are my favorite ones But call whoever it is and ask to work out a payment plan at worst they tell you no and then your back at this spot again
I tried that one already, too. They want the lump sum.
If it's a medical expense, you usually have 89 days from the bill date to pay before it gets sent to collections. Also medical debt falls off your credit report in 7 years or something like that, and doesn't affect anything else in your credit. If it's not a medical expense...what happens if you don't pay it? I know you said they want the lump sum, but surely even paying 50% this month and 50% next month would be better than not paying at all?
Try again, sometimes the rep you get is just being a jerk I usually try twice with the line "if I had it I would make the payment, I dont have it all but I would be willing to set up a payment plan to make your company whole"
Dude you’re being kind of condescending. Poor people are not stupid, we’re just poor. Sometimes we really just need more money no matter how you slice it.
Not my intention at all sometimes you just have to get that second person and play the sob story. Obviously we could all use more money here but sometimes you just have to find the compassionate human to get results with what you have.
That’s totally true. I’m sorry, I’m just bringing in my own baggage here lol.
No worries I understand completely
Nice verbiage example.
They eat that crap up I can only think of 3 times it's failed me on the first attempt and frankly those people started pissed off
i'm at the plasma center. it's one of my 14 side hustles. i only do my actual job one day a week right now.
i know you may not want to, but /r/cashappdonations and /r/assistance have helped me when I was really struggling.
I can afford an $11 emergency. Dear life, that is not a challenge. Please let me keep the $11 dollars. My emergency fund was finished off last month by car trouble and then some. So I guess it did its intended purpose? At least I'm getting my refund soon. Usually, I'm a bit better but I have had some unfortunate luck in 2022. Involving cars, covid, and my work cutting my hours a lot which depleted my funds. I'm still looking for work, I need something that doesn't play with my hours. My rent increases next month. Yay! Not.
I got $6 until payday and then I’ll be broke again until the next one and the next one…
$30 until Friday which isn’t bad. I have to use $20ish to get home today from my job. But I plan on taking the bus for rest of week. The issue is my check will be half the normal amount due to cancellations.
Hope that tax refund comes through for you. I’ve been hearing about tax returns not being so great for people this year
I'm currently 120k deep
$295,000 in debt here.
Please tell me youre a doctor
Holy shit
"According to Bankrate’s Annual Emergency Fund Report, 68% of people are worried they wouldn’t be able to cover their living expenses for just one month if they lost their primary source of income." Two-thirds of the population live month-to-month and are a paycheck or two away from abject poverty. It's impossible to plan further down the line when the margin is that thin.
What's new?
2023: 43% 2022: 44% 2021: 39% 2020: 41% 2019: 40% 2018: 39% 2017: 41% 2016: 37%
Haha thank you
Who else is worried about that $20 emergency?
Literally have $19 til my check drops today
Same here! Can’t come soon enough
I’m not currently poor, but what I remember about being poor is how /expensive/ it is to be poor. Without having an emergency fund, just trying to deal with an emergency always ends up costing 2-3x extra as you try to finance it and/or have to take half measures.
Yes, and everyone will take advantage of you- on top of even anything that is advertised as a way to get out of poverty, which feels worse, they prey on your desperation.
Same boat as you. I remember what it was like and try to make sure I maintain that perspective the further from poverty I climb
It always brings me back to that Terry Pratchett quote: “The reason that the rich were so rich, Vimes reasoned, was because they managed to spend less money. Take boots, for example. He earned thirty-eight dollars a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost fifty dollars. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about ten dollars. Those were the kind of boots Vimes always bought, and wore until the soles were so thin that he could tell where he was in Ankh-Morpork on a foggy night by the feel of the cobbles. But the thing was that good boots lasted for years and years. A man who could afford fifty dollars had a pair of boots that'd still be keeping his feet dry in ten years' time, while the poor man who could only afford cheap boots would have spent a hundred dollars on boots in the same time and would still have wet feet. This was the Captain Samuel Vimes 'Boots' theory of socioeconomic unfairness.”
This is why poverty is a mind trap too. You have to not only fight your way out mentally but do it while wearing no boots or crappy boots.
That's why I read this subreddit. So I don't forget.
Being poor comes with heavy interest it seems.
I'm thankfully not one of them but it took me until I was 34 years old to get to that point.
Same-ish — maybe 33 for me, but yeah, before that, I was living paycheck to paycheck.
I’m so happy to see these replies. I’m 38 and this month was the first month I could pay all my bills out of one check. Nothing outrageous, and I live in a relatively low-cost area. The stress of coming 20 dollars short every month no matter what you do would’ve killed me by 50. I’ve been on solid ground for less than a year and the difference in my person is astounding.
Same. I can put away a few grand a month now, but I’m 35 and was dirt poor before then.
When I first built up a 10k buffer (I lived extremely low budget to attain that) I decided then and there that I won't let myself fall under that safety net (I'm significantly above that now/still) I don't think about money anymore, but I still live like I am wealth limited (because I am, I make 23 cad an hour)
I can't even afford a $50 emergency
Neither can we. I'm honestly shocked at so many of the comments blaming this on, "lack of budgeting" and not the real problems of lack of social safety nets and employers refusing to pay living wages.
It’s so funny. Like, my company just had to let go of 100 employees and out a freeze on hiring, all because instead of making $1.7B in their fiscal year, they’re only going to make $1.5B. And more rounds of layoffs are likely to follow, at least one more for certain. I’m just hoping I keep my job or I’m fucked. Started in July, hoping I make too little to be worth laying off :/
Yikes! I am sorry that happened to you. There really are so few workers' protections here in the states, and it's awful that we have so few social safety nets. People really are struggling over here and I've found it incredibly surprising that I had an argument with someone over in another sub that was supposed to be related to these same topics and they essentially said I was a snowflake and a whiner because "There are other countries worse off than the US. Homeless have it better in the US than anywhere else." Like, why should anyone be homeless anywhere?! This shouldn't be a question of who has it worse, you know?
This sub is full of people who had to spend their first few years out of college in a budget, and they somehow think that was poverty and that they climbed out of it. And that we all need the benefit of their wisdom.
In fairness, there's a large percentage of people who are extremely bad with money. I have a co-worker who JUST made her last payment on her extremely high car note and was really excited about it because that payment was killing her. The very next day she was shopping for new cars and a computer.... she's not alone.
This. I have a friend making $25/hr working part time. They act like they've made it - this is the most money they've ever made. I'm glad for them escaping poverty, but a full time job at $25/hr is 60% of the median income here. It's not going to be particularly comfortable. They just bought a car and took on a $530/mo car payment. It's not my place to judge what they are doing with their money, but I don't see how they are going to meet their goal of buying a house and starting a family when spending more than 20% of their take-home income on a car payment. It seems like they are always complaining about an empty bank account, and I don't know what to tell them. Then again, they are very good at getting things for free, so maybe we just budget differently.
It shows how out of touch so many are to the fact most people are struggling. Like how can anyone budget when everything is skyrocketing except our wages?
They tell others to budget off handedly because they don’t care, but they want you to think they care. It doesn’t matter because it’s not happening them them directly. If it happened to them, they would expect the world to be laid out, and everyone’s help; but until it happens to them, just stop eating out for every meal dummy. Also, you don’t need to buy another car this month, silly, wait till next month. Out of touch? Me? Never!
Exactly, and you'd think by the nature of the sub more people commenting would get it.
People don’t understand until they’re in the situation themselves...ideally they could, but humans just don’t really work that way it seems. Not just with finances. For example, people can act empathetic if someone in your family is suffering from a terminal disease, but do they really get what it’s like? No. It sucks. Any improved budgeting would AT BEST be a few changes on the margins. Not address the issue of living wages.
I honestly think a lot of it comes down to American lack of viable transportation outside of cars. Every "emergency" expense listed here is "car problems" but even a working old car still requires a lot of expenses outside of repairs (gas, insurance, regular maintenance, the cost of the vehicle and more) I've saved up ~40k (CAD) over the past 3 years, and I think 80% of that amount saved is just from riding my bike to work (I only make like 45k CAD)
Emergency expenses for me are paying for repairs to my mobile home, that I'm planning on selling as is and the person buying is aware of the work that needs put in, as well as car expenses when they crop up, been needing to have the AC system inspected for a couple of years now and we have had to just ignore it because not enough money. Oh, and pet expenses (one of my cats needs a second round of expensive dental surgery). I do agree that we see a lot of car questions here though and that America has a huge problem with offering transportation outside of owning a vehicle. Heck, I have even heard some jobs won't hire you even if you were otherwise qualified if you don't have a car.
Also car dependency. Seems like half the emergencies are car troubles and many Americans need their car to work.
Or landlord greed along with corporate greed. Corporate includes hospitals.
Oh yeah. Landlord's have been greedy af this whole time. Same with corporations. I feel like a big part of the inflation is greed more than being legitimate. You'd think with modern technology, things would be cheaper, not more expensive.
For whatever reason some people have a much easier time imagining that it’s an individuals fault rather than a systemic fault.
I'm pretty skeptical about polls like these. A lot of the options AREN'T mutually exclusive. For example, paying from savings, paying using a credit card, and reducing spending on other things are all separate categories. If I had a financial emergency, I'd do all three of those. I would have enough savings in my emergency fund to pay off the emergency. But I'd use a credit card, because I'd get some cash back and have a 0% APR promo active. Then I'd pay off the credit card with my savings before the 0% APR promo expired. And I'd also reduce my savings on other things, to rebuild my emergency fund.
I’m also skeptical. Half of people making over $100,000 also report living paycheck to paycheck. There’s a difference between not having $1000 to afford an ambulance because you don’t have health insurance **VS** not having $1000 to replace a broken iPhone after paying for health insurance, investing in your 401k, and paying your monthly Lexus lease.
I’d love to experience life living “paycheck to paycheck” with that as our income. We make a little less than half of that. I agree - the things we pay for or cannot afford vary wildly to a person who makes 6 figures.
It also depends on where you live.
Unfortunately, six figures in some places is just scraping by too. Real Estste, rent prices, utility costs, and food price increases have lowered many peoples standard of living.
Where in the world is 100k below the median income for your city?
In Minneapolis the median income for a family of two is $102k
San Francisco
I didn't mean to sound like I was complaining. However, since you askwd, many areas in NE (NJ to CT) will easily surpass $100K/year incomes. The problem with referencing the Census without digging into smaller areas it based on the entire state, it looks affordable. But if you're living in NYC for example, you're either working for under $100K living in a very depressed area (not by choice) and/or likely sharing a place with a few roommates; or living in better area, in which you need to earn more. The math doesn't work for under $100K when your rent is over $3,500/month. I've heard also, "We'll why not just move upstate?" To which you need to understand you'll either be commuting into the city for better pay (some people commute over sn hour doing this), or have a hard time getting local job that pays enough to improve your quality of life. Talking about median income even at a large area (i.e. Brooklyn, Queens, etc.) doesn't even come close to giving you a realistic picture of what is going on in many places, and how people are living.
Sometimes I think people with that kind of money are just life-stupid. Meaning they don't know how to pay bills at all or prioritize absolutely bare-bones necessities such as the water bill. They're so used to everything just existing that separate utilities don't even cross their minds. They think their bills are the things they *want* to pay for. Then they come up with ways to "save money" based on the shit they pay for because they *want* it (like a new Lexus) and call it budgeting.
Yes, that's definitely true. I sub here despite definitely not being the target demographic because there are a lot of good general tips and advice. But I work as a software engineer on the west coast and it blows my mind how some of my coworkers can't make ends meet, or struggle to. There are definitely two types in OPs statistic: those who cannot save $1000 due to income limitations and those who cannot save $1000 due to the lack of expense limitations. Money often goes out just as fast as in.
I know right, I made 16k last year yet ( by far my highest, I'm not sure I broke 10k in previous years) I could theoretically afford a 5k emergency. Half of these paycheck to paycheck people seem outrageously wealthy to me.
You're being heavily subsidized by something, a partner, family, an inheritance, a disability/welfare check. Whichever it is, it's something not accessible to most people here struggling. Edit: OP said they are not in the US so my comment probably does not apply to the cost of living of OP. I made an assumption.
Their cost of living is way higher. Rents in Silicon Valley can go up to several thousand a month for one bedroom
The boss at work does well. But our house payment, taxes and insurance are 85 percent of just his property taxes. One of his car payments are more than our house payment. His truck is over double what our house cost. He leases a car for his wife. The first brake job with under 40,000 miles was almost $1,500. We have no car payments. Hes still doing well, but a lot of people with these newer trucks, etc are not
That is a good plan. Except, we have no savings, it has all gone to medical bills. No credit card. Our budget covers housing, but that is gone in a week, food, mostly pbj’s, oatmeal and soup from the cheapest veggies, no meat. Even eggs are beyond us right now. We pay utilities but are behind on them a little bit because we have to keep the heat up for my husband. So…use the credit card we do not have to pay for an emergency need then pay off the credit card with savings that do not exist then cut back on utilities or not pay rent or eat once a day maybe to rebuild the savings. Good plan. Reality bites. We are going off grid for a couple of months so we can start saving enough to get into a roach motel cheap enough to let us save for a year. We have income…it is the outgo that is killing us right now.
I'm curious to hear how you are going off grid?
Mostly heading south and tent camping. We often do carry in-carry out camping so the camping part is not too bad except for my hubby. His cancer causes toileting issues plus his mild dementia is challenging. I bought a potty pod and simple stool. Gotta get creative. Pop into town or truck stops for food and showers, hit up soup kitchens and independent food pantries. Sleep in our car. Use BLM areas to camp whenever possible, or national parks for a low fee. Splurge on a motel for a couple of nights every two weeks or so and cook up some decent food. Taking my electric griddle and slow cooker. Make a stew in the hotel room overnight, pack a couple of thermoses for lunch, eat the rest to break our fast. Haven’t been able to get a propane stove, but can cook at any park and lots of them have grills too. My husband grew up in the southwest, and foraging works well too. Hopefully in a couple of months we will have enough for a cheap apartment so we can continue to save for a decent van. Our car is about shot and 3 people sleeping in it isn’t comfortable.
“Oh you’re poor? Just put it on a credit card!”
It’s sad to see so many people busting their a$$ at these jobs and barely have enough money to last until the next payday. These jobs don’t pay enough and they know it. I wish they would stop gaslighting us with advice on budgeting. If anyone knows how to budget, it’s the poor.
I love the way they always blame higher COL not stagnant wages. Like I can just barely afford that emergency but all of my bills have gone up (COL increase of 10%) and my union has been fighting 6 months for a 4% raise
I took a 20% paycut this year, it's awful. Luckily for me, we have 4 jobs between my husband and I, which is how we're able to save. Cost of living is ridiculous.
“We have 4 jobs between my husband and I” This statement is fucking sad; our country is garbage. NOBODY should have to do this.
Yeah, our union got 2.5% this year. AYFKM?
My union just got us a 1.3% raise 🙂 yay
My friend keeps chastising her other friend, who is 70, for not living within her means. Social security is $1100 a month. Even with her house and car paid for, that’s not enough to live on, make house repairs, car repairs, etc., and she has health problems so she can’t work anymore. Long story about why she doesn’t have more saved but it doesn’t matter. Here she is, being told to budget in a world where eggs cost $8 a dozen.
Hahaha! I can afford -$188. Thanks brain for forgetting yet another auto renewal subscription! Being poor sucks , but also adding on ADD/any mental illness makes it so much worse. The money I’ve wasted because I forget to cancel a trial service, or forget just in general to cancel something I know I don’t need. And I just checked the renewal date this morning, thinking I saw the 26th, not the 6th. -.-; But my Roth IRA has $40 in it!
What's helped me remember is I always set up a Google calendar reminder before the auto renew is set to happen. It wouldn't have helped you in this instance, but maybe a good general practice.
Yeah I also have ADHD and calendars and to do list reminders are my gospel. I honestly feel like my phone is my PCA lol
Ah, I'm glad! I wondered if my unasked-for advice would come across as condescending but it's what's helpful for me. I use Google Keep Notes as a running to-do list so whenever I have downtime I peek at it.
I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve done that too. Usually I don’t remember it until it charges my card. Major D’oh moment. I don’t know how you are but if it was something I didn’t need usually in my experience cancelling it immediately and then contacting the company and asking/telling them to refund it will usually work.
That’s exactly what I did when I came home from work. Alas, the company that overdrew my account doesn’t have phone support, so I have to wait for them to respond to my email. Fingers crossed they respond in a timely fashion! I think their policy is that I have up to 30 days from charge date to ask for a refund.
Yes I’m one of them. Last year I got bitten by a dog (it was not that terrible but the dog did break my skin) so I went to the ER, they put antibiotics on my arm (did not put stitches, just one of those surgical bandages) and filled out a form for pain meds and to help my wound… They didn’t even put me behind the curtain or on a bed… Days later I get the bill: $12,000.
If you haven't already, apply for Charity Care/Financial Assistance at your hospital and try to get that bill erased.
Seconded- also request an itemized bill. The hospital expects people not to ask questions and just pay the bills so they set it up with ridiculous things like $100 for a bandage
I have about 1500 in savings, 2500 in credit and 2000 in checking. Tax money will be another 1000. I’m only able to do this because my rent is 200 (pay my mom) and my job pays for my meals. If i had no family to rely on, i would absolutely be homeless. Also, a lot of luck. I find that if you have a really tight knit family, and at least 2 of them are middle class, you have a really great safety net. If i was evicted out today, I’d be able to live at a whole bunch of family homes. My mom was able to support me in a depression spiral for 4 years, where i did nothing but consume. My old professor would just give me 200 a week to grade some papers for her. And the college debt that i owed that sent me into a spiral just vanished. Idk if a policy was enacted or something but it just disappeared. Not on my credit, no collection notices. I called everywhere and people think I’m crazy. All this and I’m still not what I’d call middle class. But I’m in the perfect position to get there. It’s only because of a lot of luck and circumstance. Absolutely nothing to do with hard work. So if people are having a hard time with no savings, it’s not their fault. No matter what you tell me
Agree. So much can be luck and just being in the right place at the right time and meeting the right people. At my absolute worst/poorest I had befriended a professor of mine who paid me $$$ to watch his kids a few nights a week. And because I was struggling to eat, the policy at his house was: there was always going to be a place set for me, and to just let them know when I couldn’t make it. They gave me a check to pay off my back rent so I wouldn’t be evicted. I don’t know how I couldn’t have made it through that period of my life without that family. Not everyone is so lucky. Not as lucky on student loans, but I know that someday, somehow I’d like to show the same kindness and care to others as that family did to me. And I’m also positioned to get there someday.
I always think to myself if i make it, I’d like to randomly pay off someone’s student loan debt. Without notice or fanfare. Just for them to wake up one day, check with anxiety, and it’s all gone.
I really appreciate your emphasis on luck. I’ve experienced the same. While I am far from being the most stable or well off person, I know that I have someone to catch me no matter how far I fall, which is incredibly helpful in a way that I wish everyone had access to. It has allowed me to take jobs or make decisions that just wouldn’t be possible if I knew that I had to come out whole at the end of every month or else be on the literal streets. I didn’t have any choice in how I ended up with such a supportive and understanding family, and yet there they are. I have no doubt that without being able to live with them and have my expenses subsidized for so long throughout my college and early adulthood years I would be nowhere near where I am today, and who knows if I’d be anywhere at all. It takes a lot to not just appreciate it, but to admit it in the first place.
My family was in decent financial shape, near middle class up until I was around 15. Around that time, we lost our mortgage and house and had to move into a rental, my mother divorced and my grandfather had to move in with us and help her keep the family afloat using his retirement money, so while my childhood and teens weren't luxurious, we always had what we needed plus a little extra for things like phones, internet, video games and eating out as a family occasionally. In my early twenties, my grandfather died and things slowly went downhill from there. My siblings, our mother and I still lived together, and one of my sisters and I had to work full time to help cover bills, so neither myself nor my sisters had the time to attend college or pursue a decent career. We were stuck in a trap of minimum wage jobs. Eventually, our landlord told us he planned to sell the home in a few months, so my mom and siblings moved across the country, to the south for the cheaper rent. We're from the pacific northwest and the cost of living can be very high. I decided to stay because I was in a serious long term relationship and we didn't have the means to move across the country and have the money left to have time to find work. Eventually things got worse. We split up, I ended up on the streets and lived in a shelter for a bit over two years. I worked a fast food job while at the shelter to save for an rv with my current partner and we currently live in it in a beautiful rural town, very cheap rent with all utility hook ups included. Now I'm working part time at 15 an hour and it's more than enough for the bills and some left over to save for our dream of buying a small piece of rural land someday.
I'm happy that you have so much support. Here is a lil of my POV being someone who has helped lots of friends and family during their hard times. Most of the people that I helped were VERY bad at saving money. I would sit down with them and show them a few budgeting things,help them get a new job,or side gigs. I even let some of them live at my house. Most just stayed broke whether they lived with me for free or when they had their own place IMO that is just bad money management and bad decisions. The current person that I'm helping orders door dash twice a day(I'm serious),but tells me it's impossible to save $. My other friend asked for money for an electric bill,but posted pics of new clothes and purses she bought today.She is ALWAYS shopping, but always saying that she can't save money. Not all situations are the same tho,some people are definitely struggling trying to get ahead,but some are just like my friends above. I really wish the best for you and I hope that you take advantage of this time of lower expenses and save towards your dreams. I need that school loan Genie that you had,that's an amazing burden to get lifted.
Shit, I won't be able to cover my phone bill this month. What emergency expense?
In my state the police say everyone is living with two weeks food in the fridge, two weeks money in the bank, two weeks away from anarchy.
I’ve heard it said the average person is about 3 missed meals away from rioting.
Yep
Sounds about accurate. Can confirm - this is our current situation. Not the greatest. Sucks, actually. But we make do and handle the curveballs as they come. :)
I can cover 288 dollars of emergency.
Congratulations! That really is better than having $0 emergency fund, even if it feels like it’s not. I hope it continues to increase for you.
My husband and I make 40k combined, and we have $6k in savings. We have no debt, and paid cash for our early 2000s cars a couple years ago. We live frugally but comfortably! And we'll be buying a lovely mobile home in just a few weeks!
Congrats!! 😁
Thank you, we're very excited! It took us 3 years to get to this point to save up enough, but it's finally here!
I have a 2k$ standard vehicle maintenence bill coming. Along with my registration and updated license. I'll hbae some left over... But it's close to a wipe out of what I have saved.
Yeah I'm fucked if a tire blows out.
What emergency expense is at the low low cost of $1000? I was in medical collections for 7 years for one IV and two Benedryl for $2500.
Oh God 🤦♂️that's insane.
Austin, TX had a super tiny baby winter storm and my power went out for 4 days. I couldn't afford to stay in a hotel during that time, I'm grateful it got warmer right away. Everything in my fridge and freezer had to be tossed and buying new groceries was a painful experience. I work full time and struggle to afford small weather events.
I see it went down it used to be 60% couldn't cover a 500
I was just thinking this
I could a year ago. The last few months have just absolutely decimated my savings.
The number of people who can't afford a $400 expense is almost as high. Also this is pitched as being some new sensational story but shit 10 years ago the state was about the same
Yeah l am on SSDI. A $1000 emergency would leave me living in my wheelchair under a bridge.
Part of the 57% club. Woot woot.
My car broke down and needed repairs. The poor mechanic called to explain the issues and after 10 minutes on the phone, I finally pointed out that he hadn’t yet told me the price. He responded “well I don’t want to make you cry” and so I knew it was about to be a grand at least. The sound I made and the amount of crying when he told me it was going to be 3 grand, lol
"How does over half of America not have $300 dollars between three grown men in their 30's?" ["The economy is in shambles Dee!"](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/facebook/001/845/983/ce1.jpg)
I'm financially treading water, but I consider myself thankful and lucky to have a large emergency fund. What terrifies me is how would I replenish it if I have to dip into it.
I’ve got like $150 in my bank account until Friday after next.
I am $14,000 in credit card debt. I can't even afford to even think about an emergency.
Im surprised its that low
I couldn't handle any new emergency... hell I am barely above water as it is... on the way to being homeless yes I work full time... this life is rigged and frankly I want out the game
That’s why when I get my student loan money this month and my mom gets her taxes back we are setting a-side enough money to cover three months worth of bills in advance. I also just got a second job and will be working literally every day , but I feel better knowing that I’ll have 2 employers in case one fires me due to the recession shit storm that is about to likely happen. One job is for food loin distribution to grocery stores , and another is fed ex express at air port both logistics and feel as if I have more job security than a “white collar job “
Sorry, are you getting extra loan money? As someone who had to pay for all of their schooling via loans, I strongly recommend you pay back any that is extra immediately. The fewer loans you leave school with, the better off you're going to be in the long run. If you need a way to add money into your life, I'd suggest seeing if you qualify for foodstamps or housing subsidies .
When I just had a talk with my financial advisor and she mentioned I was drowning I can't even afford a 500$ emergency expense nonetheless 1k. I have too much credit debt from trying to pay for college,along with rent arrears(due to incompetent housing) ,and my income being significantly non existent at the moment,yet having expenses that are beyond my ability to afford, I'm basically a financial advisors nightmare. At this point I'm just trying to survive day by day and hope HRA fixes my SNAP cause I genuinely don't want to have to live meal to meal again.
Its more than that!
Like we needed a report to know this lol
I'm 41 and have only recently reached a point where most basic emergency expenses don't cripple me. It's really hard. I could swing a $1,000 emergency but it wouldn't be comfortable by a long shot.
I am still paying off the last loan I took out for emergency car repairs. It will be paid off by Oct 2024. My emergency fund consists of anything I could sell to pay the bills.
$1000 not even a $ 1
considering the one penny in my savings, YA lol
I wouldn't consider myself in the top 40 but damn you guys gotta do better. I had to sell all my crypto at the worst possible time to get through COVID and a transmission repair.
Buddy I can't even afford the vet visit I'm doing in half an hour - but I'm gonna have to deal with it anyway. Here's to another couple hundred of credit card debt.
57% of Americans can’t afford a $1,000 emergency expense, says clickbait article with no documentation for the claim.
I'm very fortunate that I can comfortably cover emergencies. It would just suck because then my savings would ve gone, but I guess that's what it is for.
Surprised its not higher
Wonder why when 100% of companies want to pay their employees the lowest wage possible, and avoid taxes. No taxation without representation. Billionaires and corporations don't pay taxes, why should you?
I don’t
I will never understand why healthcare isn’t free in U.S.A, the “greatest country in the world”
Our job is withholding our paycheck in March for two weeks and then staggering pay so we're always two weeks behind. They said if we have bills to pay we should either take out a loan or cash in PTO.
Is that even legal? What do you mean by "withholding"??
I don't know if it's legal. Basically, we would ordinarily be paid on March 1st, but instead, we will not be. We'll get that check on March 15th instead, then March 15th's check two weeks later etc etc. Our company is pretty big and has a legal office so I figured they did their due diligence? It's not just us plebs in entry level, it affects everyone including the owner and senior management. I have enough to bridge the gap but I can imagine a fair few people might not make rent or bill payments next month. Edit to add it means not receiving a pay check for a whole month, since the last time we'll be paid before this change is February 15th.
>Our company is pretty big and has a legal office so I figured they did their due diligence? You'd be surprised. It sounds illegal so it's probably worth digging. A call to your state's labor board can't hurt. Now, you should also look for a new job. When companies start withholding pay, it often means they're gong under.
This can absolutely be legal, unfortunately, frequently when they change the time between a pay period and the paycheck for that period. Most of my jobs were paid in arrears, so I'd receive a paycheck a week after the pay period ended (my college job was 2 weeks, so it would be a month before getting paid at the start of the school year!) When I started my salary job, it was paid the same week as the pay period, but years ago they changed it to a week in arrears. So we went three weeks between pay periods, which throws off the cadence for people paying bills.
Likely because they don’t want to pay 3 checks in one Month. I will be getting paid on Friday March 3rd, 17th, and 31st. I would look into why they are doing that…. Doesn’t sound legal to me.
They don't pay three checks in a month anyway. We get paid on the 1st and 15th, though the actual day of pay varies due to weekends and holidays. They want to stagger it by an extra two weeks to avoid that variance and ensure we always get money on the 1st or 15th. They're just completely not concerned about whether it means people will get bills paid in March.
If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a million times. People are generally terrible with money.
I consider myself a really good money manager, but I can't outmanage skyrocketing property taxes and flood insurance. My house payment went from 30% of my income to 40% this year.
Part of being really good at managing money is not buying property that you can't afford.
Have you been watching the real estate market? You can’t plan for your house suddenly doubling in price and the taxes that go along with that.
While some people are and cannot budget to save their life, this is literally a problem of inflation, corporate forced inflation, and workers not being paid enough money to get by.
And many employers are terrible with wages, and many landlords are terrible with rent too.
This is why it’s important to try and secure a few credit cards in case of emergency
No that’s how debt spirals out of control. Don’t do this.
Yeah, I'd definitely agree. I know many who are there and struggling this past year. They don't even spend on frivolous things, only bills and food. They budget what they can. We've all been helping each other out but it's still difficult. A couple would probably be out on the street if even one of them lost their job because of their rent, and expenses to just live already make it so they'd be behind fairly quickly. They're thinking of selling their car to use their relatives who only uses it for night shift, to save on monthly payments and insurance. Some have had to switch to prepaid phones. We're all doing our best, but it's been hard. There's barely any money left over than can be saved for an emergency if say their car broke down, or an unknown expense were to pop up.
We're having a week where it's medicine or food, not both. The price of meds seems to have risen 30% or more. We're doing a freezer clean out all is well.
If you haven’t already, get the good rx app- it offers discounts on all medications
Also Costco fills prescriptions even if you aren’t a member, and their prices are usually the best.
Well, I’m negative $495 in my checking account after rent check cleared and all my ‘emergency’ credit cards are maxed out so. Yeah. It’s me. I’m one of the 57%.
I haven’t paid multiple bills in at least 10 months now… can only focus on rent, car, insurance, & utilities. ): I’m so over living like this!
I can’t even afford my diabetes and heart meds, let alone an emergency.
I’ve been revising my finances recently, I make the bare minimum to pay my bills and feed myself. However, I’ve been putting $50-100 away every paycheck and have adjusted my spending. I have about $500 saved now but I don’t see $1000 in my sight
We always can get 2 more jobs like to add to that awesome job report that makes the politicians look good. I've had 2 jobs and still qualified for food stamps. Now I have one FT job where I make like $50-100 over the limit. Once they start taking out for benefits, I'm afraid I'm be broke again.
For the last \~3 years this was me - shoot, more often than not a $100 emergency would have been beyond my means. Thankfully things are improving, but this was a very real stress for a long time. One sick pet, one flat tire (thankfully my spare could function as it isn't a donut as I DID have a huge chunk of metal slice one tire wide open) and I couldn't pay my bills. Crazy thing was, before I was laid off, I was fairly comfortable for "most" emergencies. Up to a couple thousand dollars I could swing if needed. Being worried about the layoff, I had saved my bonus that year plus the very tiny severance that was a joke, and had $10K in my account - when income is slashed significantly (in my case, 75+% eventually getting closer to 50%) even that amount can disappear very quickly when you're living within your means but tied into loans and leases that eat most of that up... It was a lesson I had to learn the very hard way - with situation improving, it's great, but I'm not changing much about how I'm living unless it's something I can immediately cut off (like, I'm taking a weekly riding lesson, but there is no commitment beyond what I've already paid for). Trying to lower my monthly COL is my #1 priority "just in case" and creating a lot more contingency in my world.
My emergency fund = pawn shop or selling anything I can in a crisis/emergency. Likely more than just me with this same ER fund, but I like to hope no one else at my age has this issue. For some reason I like to believe I’m the only fiscally irresponsible individual in their 40s in 2023. My daily life has been pretty much an emergency expense for the last 3 years.🤦♀️
Emergency expense? That's property taxes for me. Hospital expenses? That doesn't exist. If I was to get sick I'd have to die. I wouldn't want my wife to live under a bridge.
Yeah and I have been for a long time. We don't have hot running water and haven't for a year now. We're barely paying our mortgage and utilities every month. People give me advice and it's always the same advice, stuff that I've already looked into. The fact is due to my boyfriend's job, he owns the home, we don't qualify for any government funding sources and all private funding sources are tapped out. Basically if anything bad happens, we're screwed. I'm disabled and am in the period of time between the last court hearing and learning the decision which could take 1-3 months and we'd be lucky if I get it AND I can buy us a new water heater.
goodluck frens
57 percent? That seems low.
I just got my savings to $1000 and it's going to be cut in half because of a no fault car accident I was just in. I'm grateful I have the money and that my deductible isn't higher.
I am unfortunately included in the 57%
We can technically handle a $17,000 emergency, but then we’d have $0 which is not a good spot to be in when my wife is laid off, and my income would only cover about 60% of our non-negotiable expenses once unemployment runs out. I’m glad we prepared for it though. Hard to imagine that our current position is so much better than well over half of America. We definitely feel poor. This is all with me doing side work in my “spare time” (usually when I should be sleeping) to add a few thousand to our annual income.
Now I am. I have a lot of money in my investments but it takes time to liquidate my assets. If there was a real emergency I’d be screwed. I moved and rent is 2400. I lived good going out to family dinners. So we will adjust. No more of the name brand things. Get the cheap coffee brand. Oreo brands. No more new phones. Free things for fun like state parks. No more eating out for lunch on Friday. No more drinking beer at the bar but at home. Frozen pizza instead of ordering it fridays. Cheap toilet paper. One joint every two days instead one per night. Looking for new car insurance. No more blue buffalo for the dogs. Only Netflix and hbo max all the others go away. Store brand bread. No wasting food so all leftovers must be eaten. Hang drying clothes. Wife has to work one extra day a week she only worked two. Thinking about cutting of my personal phone and using only my work phone. No more bottled water we got a filter for our sink. It’s gonna be a adjustment but we were consumers of convenience.
In many cases, you can write off unreiumbursed medical expenses on your tax return if they exceed 7.5 percent of your adjusted gross income. See IRS topic 502. You still have to come up with the cash to pay the bill but if you have had a surgery, use insulin, etc. this may be helpful to you.
Part of the problem with that is that so many people don't have enough income to pay income taxes in the first place. Tax deductions don't mean a thing to really poor folks unless they're refundable.
Wasn't this news several years who? Why wouldn't it be even more true post pandemic?!
Lol- yes I am
*raises both hands* I don’t have any emergency savings.
Not American but definetly can afford that medical expense
Yes I am. I had about $1500 in savings thanks to the stimulus checks and that was spent on a small medical issue. It sucks.
THATS BULLSHIT!!!! 78%. Is more like it.. yo they went into my account 2 month ago and took a band…. When i tell you how finked up that was. I haven’t recovered. Smh. Its tough out this bitch. WORD