Emergency savings dangerously thin even for upper-income earners according to CNN

[Sarah in SC]

Oh that's totally different. Although we wired our house ourselves, it was all done to code and inspected and all that.

Actually, the only work on our house that proved substandard was the trusses, which were spec'd and ordered by the lumber yard, and installed by the professional framing crew. Spacing was done wrong, resulting in some bowing in a long span that we had to fix with some additional support under the house.

I figure if we are paying for work, it ought to be up to code and substantially better than what we can DIY. Otherwise, why pay for it?

 

[Delawaredave5]

What's interesting about article is that the percentages and "closeness to the edge" hasn't changed much in the last 30+ years.

Sometimes it seems like this "living hand to mouth" is a recent consequence of great depression and loss of good middle class jobs - but the concept of perpetually living nearly broke is not new.....

 

[cooch96]

What's interesting about article is that the percentages and "closeness to the edge" hasn't changed much in the last 30+ years.

Sometimes it seems like this "living hand to mouth" is a recent consequence of great depression and loss of good middle class jobs - but the concept of perpetually living nearly broke is not new.....

I think the primary cause of this is our own doing, our own culture. We often want the nicest things. hopefully we value our family more, but nice things are nice. The only way to get the nicest things as soon as possible is to live on credit. I'm proud of my lbym lifestyle and my hopes of living much of my life in leisurely grace, but it is reasonable for a young family to desire proper furniture and a reliable car. And if this family has only modest income, then this sets them up for years of interest obligations. Tough, but that's life: decisions, choices, sacrifices, and consequences.

I think another reason is money policy. It's discouraging to save money when the interest rates are so low.