Do very few have any savings?

[herofan]

I see a lot of reporting on the government workers not getting paid, and the overall impression is that many are about to go under. I didn't realize so many people were a few weeks pay away from losing it all. One lady said she hadn't been paid since Dec. 29, but this is only 26 days later.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying they should be jolly about it. If I were in their shoes, I would not be a happy camper. I'd be all kinds of frustrated, but I wouldn't be on the verge of losing my house after a month, and I didn't assume most others would be either, but apparently I was wrong. I saw a headline in the MSN page that one lady had a little over a dollar in her bank account.

Does the cost of living in a lot of their areas just make it impossible to save anything?

 

[greybeard]

The cost of living in the manner to which they have become accustomed has made it improbable that many would save anything.

 

[herofan]

I didn't want to assume too much, but I was thinking along the same lines. I guess I'm different, but when I picture people who are a paycheck or two away from being broke, I picture someone living in a shabby trailer and driving a clunker. That makes more sense to me. It looks like someone really struggling. I don't imagine people with nice homes, vehicles, and smart phones to be the ones who are crumbling after a few weeks of no paychecks. I would assume their nicer stuff was a sign that they had their financial act together, but I guess not.

 

[M-5]

Entitled government employees. You didn't see any whining and bytchin when previous adminstration cause havoc in private sector. Most of these non essential jobs should be shut down. Fire em all and start over.

 

[kenny thomas]

I didn't want to assume too much, but I was thinking along the same lines. I guess I'm different, but when I picture people who are a paycheck or two away from being broke, I picture someone living in a shabby trailer and driving a clunker. That makes more sense to me. It looks like someone really struggling. I don't imagine people with nice homes, vehicles, and smart phones to be the ones who are crumbling after a few weeks of no paychecks. I would assume their nicer stuff was a sign that they had their financial act together, but I guess not.

Local church has something like a food bank and yesterday morning as I went to work there was 10-12 vehicles in line waiting for it to start. Every vehicle was nicer than anything I own.

 

[greybeard]

I didn't want to assume too much, but I was thinking along the same lines. I guess I'm different, but when I picture people who are a paycheck or two away from being broke, I picture someone living in a shabby trailer and driving a clunker. That makes more sense to me. It looks like someone really struggling. I don't imagine people with nice homes, vehicles, and smart phones to be the ones who are crumbling after a few weeks of no paychecks. I would assume their nicer stuff was a sign that they had their financial act together, but I guess not.

The ones 'driving clunkers' would come closer to weathering the financial storm than those who have been making a govt paycheck, thinking their jobs 100% secure and nothing could take it away. They go deeper into debt than do the 'po folks', have more 'stuff', finer houses, nicer, newer vehicles (and more of them), have more bills that have to be paid each month and as a result, when the financial equivalent of a drought comes, they find themselves in way worse shape than the people that have had to stretch their little paycheck out all along.

That 'clunker' and that trailer are probably long ago paid off and all they have to do is get food and pay the power bill.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Read the average American has less than 500 bucks in savings.

 

[greybeard]

Finally found something most here are 'above average' in........

 

[herofan]

Read the average American has less than 500 bucks in savings.

I've read the same thing. I know life can change things quickly, but I can't imagine being $500 away from losing everything as my norm with no sign of improvement. I'd probably have to be on medication to keep my nerves at ease.

 

[ddd75]

the people driving the newest cars and living in the subdivision house are usually the ones 200 bucks away from losing everything. the people in the trailer have everything paid off and are on government assistance. they will always be fine.

 

[True Grit Farms]

All the non essential government employees have been non essential to our way of life. Fire them all we don't need them.

 

[Till-Hill]

Young family here. I work as a herdsman with my own dairy cows. Also own our own beef cows. Wife has picture business. We just bought our 7 acres and house 2.5 years ago. Wife has student loan, 1 car loan. Own 3x as many assets as debts. But with 2 young kids we run 0 savings. Makes no sense to me to get 2% back when I'm paying 5%? Bad management in my books. Always can sell a cow or find a way. Never been late on a payment in my life. As of this point extra money will always be to improve her or our business.

 

[herofan]

Young family here. I work as a herdsman with my own dairy cows. Also own our own beef cows. Wife has picture business. We just bought our 7 acres and house 2.5 years ago. Wife has student loan, 1 car loan. Own 3x as many assets as debts. But with 2 young kids we run 0 savings. Makes no sense to me to get 2% back when I'm paying 5%? Bad management in my books. Always can sell a cow or find a way. Never been late on a payment in my life. As of this point extra money will always be to improve her or our business.

If that's the way a person wants to live, it's nothing to me, but it seems when something goes a little out of the ordinary, such as with the government workers, people with no savings don't seem to do too well. What would be no big deal to someone with a few bucks in the bank turns into an emergency.

 

[Named'em Tamed'em]

A lot of Gov't employees around here. Some spend it all, they know exactly how much they are going to earn every paycheck and live check to check. Same people complained about not getting a cost of living raise during our last depression. I'm self-employed, we didn't work for nine months lived on my savings. And put 2 kids through college without a loan. No sympathy here!

 

[Jogeephus]

NPR was interviewing a NASA engineer who was working on the Mars mission thing. She said she was having to eat rice and beans because she didn't have any money on day 14 of the shutdown.

IDK probably wrong but I equate nonessential workers with my having to pay nonessential taxes.

 

[Beefeater]

As a former underwriter I can tell you a whole lot of people don't have savings. Preachers and police right up there, right along with all those government workers. Their house is the savings account... Increasing taxes, housing costs, student loans, health care, vehicles and increasing costs in every other imaginable living cost known - it's really not that schocking. Have I mentioned childcare? Wow, price that one out! And no, wages in general have not kept pace with these expenses. Factor this with the Boomer generation about to suck SS dry and surely break our healthcare systems that off grid stuff on another thread is starting to sound better and better.

Most of us even with savings and other assets are only a medical event away from the poorhouse. I'm sure most of us have seen this. Just for fun what do you think is a combined household income sufficient to raise two children and retire with adequate savings by age 70 in your area?

 

[Aaron]

My savings walk around outside in pens and fields. Savings is not the issue for people, debt is. If all these government workers had $10k available in credit, they wouldn't be worrying about paying bills for the next couple of months. But they are likely so heavily leveraged that they don't have access to that extra credit.

 

[Nesikep]

I think the timing of it comes at a bad time too, right after christmas is when many people are hard-up to begin with.

I've heard a statistic that some crazy majority of the population couldn't come up with $500 on short notice

 

[wbvs58]

When I was in business my clients were from all walks of life and I got a pretty good insight into their affairs by how they paid their bills. I found that public servants that had well paid jobs were the deepest in hock with the newest cars and boats. They could go into debt up to the hilt because they knew they weren't gonna be fired and they could rely on an annual pay rise as well as going up to the next level of pay scale periodically.

Ken

 

[True Grit Farms]

The crazy part is all this could of been prevented if people would just do the right thing. I built a new wall yesterday to keep my cows out of the garden. At one time those against the wall wanted a wall, and most are the same one's that want gun control, go figure?