pull down to refresh

I read a critique of these sorts of figures that suggested the conclusions are generally wildly out of line due to the wording and nature of the surveys conducted. Basically, people like me that keep just enough money in their bank account to pay off a credit card statement and mortgage every month would be categorized as "paycheck-to-paycheck." Hint to the headline writers: my savings are not held in a bank account.
reply
Great point, I mean i get holding some cash in reserve or in a savings account to service expenses and debt but if you're making enough to service that your cash balances would likely flow into assets
But I do think most people's cash balances go into an "asset" that is their house rather than a stock portfolio, and I don't consider that an asset
reply
Americans love to spend.
reply
Exactly. Most people live right up to their budget constraint, regardless of what that is.
reply
The accumulated legacy of decades of reserve currency status dependency- being maxed out to the hilt are about to come up against the brick wall of insolvency and penury.
reply
The service economy demands it
reply
And this is why the world is upset about the Trump tariffs. Americans work extra hours just to buy more material goods.
Russians aren’t doing that!
reply
What does it mean to live paycheck to paycheck?
I know people who say they live paycheck to paycheck but that's only because they're allocating a big part of their paycheck to various retirement plans. It's only paycheck to paycheck because the retirement contributions are deducted from the paycheck
reply
Living paycheck to paycheck means the funds from the one check are depleted by the time the next paycheck is received. For some, I suppose, they have part of their check go to retirement savings.
But the term generally refers to those where, if the next check doesn't come, life gets difficult. Fast.
These people don't have savings -- they live off their income, and have little-to-nothing to cover an emergency, nonetheless being able to get by for a while if the next check didn't come because of a layoff, or similar.
reply
To what extend do you estimate the funds allocated to retirement funds are held in assets whose values are sustained/inflated by serial fiat debt leverage? Fiat money since 1971 has created a financial system where consumers and wealth funds/assets (equities and property) are mired in debt. If that USD denominated fiat debt supporting retirement savings becomes insolvent then there is an almighty crash ahead.
reply
It's surprising that it's not surprising. My parents made as much money in the 90s as I make now and they were paycheck to paycheck.
People just don't know how to hold their money.
reply
I'm with you, inflation-adjusted I make way less than my parents did at the same age, people think chasing salary increases and going on the offensive is the only solution and pay very little attention to the defensive of compounding your retained earnings which can do way more for you
Everyone has a salary cap and the state erodes that with progressive tax so you have to find another way
reply
21% over 200k income —> “insufficient income” There’s something wrong here.
reply
Trumps tariffs will adversely impact this demographic while Trump uses the income from the tariffs to fund tax cuts for his uber wealthy sponsors. Welcome to Idiocracy economic mismanagement Trump style.
reply