Guno צְבִי (06-20-2018), Phantasmal (06-21-2018), PoliTalker (06-23-2018), ThatOwlWoman (06-21-2018)
I guess we got a long way to go before we MAGA? 78% of full time American workers work paycheck to paycheck!
Hint: It's a number that's much higher than it should be.
Financial emergencies can happen to the best of us. Your car might break down on the way to work, resulting in a $500 repair. Or, your air conditioning system might go kaput on the hottest day of the year, leaving you with no choice but to come up with $1,000 for an immediate fix.
And then there's the notion of getting laid off -- a prospect even the most dedicated workers face. If that happens, you could find yourself in a situation where you're without an income for months on end, leaving you no choice but to scramble to cover your bills as you look for work.
Because financial emergencies can pop up when we least expect them to (hence the "emergency" factor), we all need savings to protect ourselves from the unknown. Ideally, we should all have an emergency fund to cover a minimum of three months' worth of living expenses, and preferably more like six months' worth of bills. Yet new data from Bankrate reveals that 23% of Americans have no emergency savings whatsoever. And those are the same people who risk wrecking their finances irreparably.
You need to do better
If you don't have emergency savings, you're opening yourself up to a world of financial upheaval. That's because the next time an unplanned bill lands in your lap, you'll most likely have no choice but to charge it on a credit card. Then, when that credit card payment comes due, you won't have the money to pay it off, and so you'll start racking up interest that will compound against you for as long as you carry that balance. In the process, you'll risk damaging your credit score, thereby making it more difficult for you to borrow money for the next emergency that comes your way.
Rather than go that route, a smarter bet is to work on building some cash reserves. This doesn't mean magically amassing six months' worth of living expenses overnight. Rather, it means slowly but surely accumulating some savings so that you're covered the next time an unanticipated expense creeps up on you.
How to get started
So how do you go from no savings to some sort of safety net? For one thing, take a look at your budget, or create one if you don't have one already, and identify spending categories to slash.
This could mean downsizing to a smaller and cheaper apartment, cutting out restaurant meals and cooking at home instead, or canceling the gym membership you rarely use. It doesn't really matter which expenses you choose to reduce as long as you free up some money each month to stick in the bank.
Next, figure out ways to earn more money. You can try getting a side job to supplement your existing income and put all of its proceeds into your emergency fund. Or, you can take a hobby of yours, whether it's painting, photography, or baking, and try monetizing it. You might also consider taking inventory and selling off the things sitting around your home you no longer need or use, like that old laptop you replaced six months ago or the clothing items from last year that still have their tags on them.
Coming up with three to six months' worth of living expenses won't be easy, but if you want to protect yourself from financial ruin, it's what you need to do. So if you're among the 23% of Americans with absolutely no cash reserves, pledge to do better effective immediately.
Otherwise, you could end up in a very sorry place the next time an unexpected expense hits you where it hurts.
By Maurie Backman
Guno צְבִי (06-20-2018), Phantasmal (06-21-2018), PoliTalker (06-23-2018), ThatOwlWoman (06-21-2018)
Yes, we are a people who do not like to save. Don’t know how to fix it.
I always see advice like this to Wage-Earners that live hand-to-mouth. Easy to say for some guy making more than enough money to survive, real difficult to achieve for those that have NOTHING.
anatta (06-21-2018), iolo (06-21-2018), Phantasmal (06-21-2018)
Thomas Paine: "Agrarian Justice
His last pamphlet, Agrarian Justice, published in the winter of 1795, opposed to agrarian law and to agrarian monopoly and further developed his ideas in the Rights of Man about how land ownership separated the majority of people from their rightful, natural inheritance and means of independent survival. The U.S. Social Security Administration recognizes Agrarian Justice as the first American proposal for an old-age pension and basic income or citizen's dividend. Per Agrarian Justice:
In advocating the case of the persons thus dispossessed, it is a right, and not a charity ... [Government must] create a national fund, out of which there shall be paid to every person, when arrived at the age of twenty-one years, the sum of fifteen pounds sterling, as a compensation in part, for the loss of his or her natural inheritance, by the introduction of the system of landed property. And also, the sum of ten pounds per annum, during life, to every person now living, of the age of fifty years, and to all others as they shall arrive at that age.
Note that £10 and £15 would be worth about £800 and £1,200 ($1,200 and $2,000) when adjusted for inflation (2011 British pounds sterling).[92]"
wiki
This societal trend is long term, stretches back to the very early 1970s (our current incarnation of economic suppression of workers in america) when the increases in american worker productivity were severed from the compensation of the american worker, which flat-lined in terms of relative productivity growth. This has evolved into a more gig based economy. One would expect that modus operandi in my view if you’re a musician for example. I did when I did that. Allowing a militarist global warmongering occupational force both in terms of how it behaves abroad and at home to force the population into a gig based economic system may not be a stable approach long term.
Jeebus.
anatta (06-21-2018)
Parking cash in a savings account is a mistake, but whatever.
Cancel 2018.1 (06-21-2018)
iolo (06-21-2018), ThatOwlWoman (06-21-2018)
maybe we should reduce competition for available jobs so that they will be forced to compete for available labor?
I am for severly limiting illegal immigration, the point system legal immigration system which ensures that immigrants compete for high level jobs, and making it a requirement for h1b visa holders to be paid 25-50% more than their counterparts.
Maybe prices are too high. Mostly because we keep inventing must have "necessities" like $200 cable packages and family plan cell service so Little Susie doesn't get her feelings hurt if she doesn't have a smart phone like all the other 4th graders or is humiliated that she gets dropped off at school in a used car.
Guno צְבִי (06-21-2018), leaningright (06-21-2018)
entitlements will do that. Your guaranteed something in your old age. In China or the Philippines if you reach old age without having anything saved then our screwed.
On the other hand is this a bad thing? The american economy is driven almost entirely by consumer spending. If they suddenly change their habits and save significantly that may actually cause the crash that democrats are praying for.
um no. I think your wrong and im right. Its hard to explain in terms non nationalists can understand but ill try hopefully i get my point across.
In the first Empire Ceasar once said that I want everyone to be able to go to any land and say I am a Roman citizen and be assured of good treatment. Like Rome would be so strong that her citizens would be afforded special rights that others would generally not be.
In the current Empire its similar. I want everyone to be able to say I am an American citizen and be assured of cable, internet, etc etc. Basically a life those in shitholes cannot even dream of. Could individual prices be lower? sure. But those "neccessities" or expectations are something like a barometer of how successful the empire is.
Its like in hunger games. The people in Capital city take so much for granted while those in area 12 dont even have rice to eat and have to slave away in the mines and thats fine. There should be benefits to being a Roman or American otherwise no one would be interested in the overall success of the empire.
Poor people have always been hopeless about saving, and keep claiming they prefer to eat!
Jack (06-21-2018), PoliTalker (06-23-2018), TTQ64 (06-21-2018)
Bookmarks