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44% of Americans can't pay an unexpected $1,000 expense from savings. ‘We're just not wired to save,’ expert says

www.cnbc.com 44% of Americans can't pay an unexpected $1,000 expense from savings. ‘We're just not wired to save,’ expert says

Building an emergency savings fund is a difficult task for Americans. Both the economy and the way we're psychologically wired may be to blame.

44% of Americans can't pay an unexpected $1,000 expense from savings. ‘We're just not wired to save,’ expert says

When faced with an unexpected $1,000 expense, more than one-third of Americans would borrow the money, according to a new Bankrate survey. That may include tapping their credit cards, seeking money from friends or family or taking out a personal loan.

Most would not turn to cash savings because they don’t have it, the personal finance website found.

Fewer than half of Americans, 44%, say they can afford to pay a $1,000 emergency expense from their savings, according to Bankrate’s survey of more than 1,000 respondents conducted in December.

That is up from 43% in 2023, yet level when compared to 2022.

“We’re just not wired to save,” said Brad Klontz, a certified financial planner and expert in financial psychology and behavioral finance. Our brains are instead programmed to focus on our immediate needs.

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  • The rich not only control the media, but vast swaths of our academics as well. Especially so-called economists and "business experts", like the bootlicker quoted here.

    These people know nothing about neurology or psychology. They're being paid to repeat bullshit so people get complacent (and worse, use their 'expertise' to influence lawmaking).

    • but vast swaths of our academics as well

      They literally drive what academia cares about. They're the reason there's been so much push to drop all arts and humanities, because FUCK CRITICAL THINKING AMIRITE?

      • Precisely. Our education system is deeply mired in the muck of privatized funding of public education. Hopefully we can root this shit out and enforce some regulations soon.

        Honestly just restricting private donations and forcing them to fucking pay taxes like the rest of us would fix a large part of this.

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