Americans are woefully unprepared for emergencies, at least financially, according to a new study by Bankrate.com.
The website reports only one in four Americans has savings set aside to cover six months of expenses in the event of unemployment, an unexpected illness or some other tragedy. And another 22% say they would have at best three months covered. Click here to read the report from Bankrate.com.
“Those most likely to have an adequate savings cushion are individuals in their 50s and 60s, and higher-income households,” says Greg McBride, a financial analyst at Bankrate.com. “But even among these groups, at least half do not have six months’ expenses in an emergency fund.”
The results are hardly surprising in a nation with stubbornly high unemployment, continued home foreclosures and a tide of personal bankruptcies. For many Americans, an emergency fund is an untapped credit card.
And when you read the news and read about signs of a looming global financial collapse, you may wonder what good money is going to be in the future anyway. The study didn’t ask about canned food, gold coins and ammunition.
