If you were to face a $2,000 unexpected expense in the next month, how would you get the funds you need?
(Financially Fragile Households: Evidence and Implications | NBER)
I would take the money out of my savings account.
I’d probably put it on a credit card which i would pay off in the next bill cycle.
$2k isn’t very much. You may have to set the bar a little higher.
There are several friends and family members I could go to in the event of a true emergency that I couldn’t cover myself for some reason.
I could get it, on a credit card. But it would take me a long time to pay off, so it would have to be for something absolutely necessary. I’d do it for healthcare costs, or emergency flights back to see sick relatives or something, but it would have to be something of that nature to justify it. (I don’t consider 2000 USD to be an “ordinary” sum of money to have to find - maybe that paper is using the term in a different way to me!)
The OP didn’t set the bar - the linked paper from “The National Bureau of Economic Research” did. According to the link:
I have a few relatives and a few things of value. I would scrape together what I could by myself first - and then go to a relative as a last resort.
I am working on getting to a point where I have something saved up and this is a non-issue, but that is not currently the case.
This would be more fun if it were: “How much could you come up with in five days?”
I’m quite liquid right now. I could meet the $2,000 challenge almost with pocket change. Raise the standard a few hundred thousand, same answer in five minutes.
Easily. I have two different savings accounts and combined they currently have over $3,000. I could do it today, if I had to.
(I am amazed constantly to discover that I am saving, that money is going into my 401K, that I am spending well below my means. When did I ever go and become an adult? )
Go much higher, though, and I would have a hard time. $5,000, would be hard, for example.
If it’s a true emergency, I think I could liquidate my 401k for about that much. Only been here for a few years and contribute a very small amount, though.
If all else fails, my mom would probably bail me out. But to the tune of 2k, that’s a life-ruining amount of money for me.
I’d pull the money from my checking account. I agree that it’s a fairly low bar, but I have friends who couldn’t clear it.
Sure could. In fact, $2000 is about what I pay extra toward paying off my mortgage every month and my checking account doesn’t miss it (6% interest rate and too small of a mortgage to take advantage of the deduction and would cost too much to refi to be worth refying.)
I wonder how much that 25/75 split of Americans correlates with those who do and don’t own a house. I can’t imagine owning a house if you can’t afford a $2k (or more) surprise every now and then.
Turn two tricks and I’d be set.
Well, I’m just one person, but I don’t own a house, and can get the $2K.
But it makes total sense to me that in a society like this, 25% can’t lay their hands on $2K. That’s still a lot of money.
ETA: kayaker, you’re worth $1000 a go? :eek: I want me some of that.
I’m one who owns a house and coming up with $2k would not be easy. I could credit card it, if it was a true emergency, but to just pull it out of a hat, not so much. That’s why I spend a little every month to have almost every appliance covered for repairs and why I thank my lucky stars to have an electrician, a plumber, and a roofer/carpenter in the family.
I used to have money in the bank. Then the child support stopped at the same time expenses for TheKid increased. I’ve never been able to “catch up”, and probably won’t be able to for a while.
I own a house and I have $2000.00 in my emergency fund for just such an occasion.
Yes, I could easily come up with such a sum on any day that the credit union is open. I’ve been busy bailing out various relatives and friends, or I’d just be able to write a check for the amount.