By Quentin Fottrell, Marketwatch
January 6, 2016 | 1:24pm
Americans are starting 2016 with more job security, but most are still theoretically only one paycheck away from the street.
Approximately 63 percent of Americans have no emergency savings for things such as a $1,000 emergency room visit or a $500 car repair, according to a survey released Wednesdayof 1,000 adults by personal finance website Bankrate.com, up slightly from 62 percent last year. Faced with an emergency, they say they would raise the money by reducing spending elsewhere (23 percent), borrowing from family and/or friends (15 percent) or using credit cards to bridge the gap (15 percent).
This lack of emergency savings could be a problem for millions of Americans. More than four in 10 Americans either experienced a major unexpected expense over the past 12 months or had an immediate family member who had an unexpected expense, Bankrate found. (The survey didn’t specify the impact of that expense.) “Without emergency savings, you may not have money to cover needed home repairs,” says Signe-Mary McKernan, senior fellow and economist at the Urban Institute, a nonprofit organization that focuses on social and economic policy. “Similarly, without emergency savings, people could raid their retirement account.”
States are going broke, too !
this state in 5 years is going to be a real mess.
Yep, that’s why Sweeney and his union pals are doing everything they can to asset strip the state while they still can…, the $70bn state pension plan, a new gasoline tax to payoff their construction buddies, and a constitutional amendment to divert even more money from other state and federally mandated spending towards propping the insolvent public pension system which promises unsustainable benefits worth over $9-10 billion a year. It’s called theft most places
Ummm, dumbass at 11:24 am the only pension system that Ridgewood residents need to be concerned about is the Teachers pension system, which is grossly underfunded. The Police, Fire and Municipal Employees pensions are adequately funded. Maybe you should educate yourself before you comment and make an ass of yourself and start talking to the teacher’s Union Thugs and not be grouping ALL government employees into one group.
yeahhhhhhhhhh,