WASHINGTON 鈥� Report after report drives home the worrisome fact that lots of Americans don鈥檛 have enough saved to cover an emergency expense, and the many who don鈥檛 are apparently not too concerned about it.
A Bankrate says one in four Americans have no emergency savings, and only 18 percent have enough to cover three to five months鈥� of expenses. Another 22 percent have savings that would cover less than three months鈥� worth of expenses.
The recommended amount of money put away for emergency expenses is six months, but just 29 percent of Americans have that much tucked away.
And there is a lot of denial when it comes to emergency savings.
鈥淓ighteen percent of those that have absolutely no emergency savings say they are OK with that,鈥� Bankrate鈥檚 Greg McBride told 海角社区app.
鈥淭hey are either whistling past the financial graveyard and thinking that nothing bad is ever going to happen, or they鈥檝e got that rich uncle or 鈥楤ank of Mom and Dad鈥� that always manages to bail them out,鈥� he said.
Just as surprising, incomes don鈥檛 seem to have as much to do with emergency savings as you might think.
鈥淭here are high income households that are still in a position where they don鈥檛 have emergency savings. But we see plenty of incidences of lower-income households that have managed to squirrel away money, and it鈥檚 not because they鈥檝e got a lot of breathing room in the budget. It鈥檚 because of the discipline of paying yourself first and living on less than you make,鈥� McBride said.
Case in point, one in four of the highest income households have either no emergency savings or only enough to cover less than three months鈥� worth of expenses, but 27 percent of the lowest-income households have managed to accumulate enough savings to cover at least three months of expenses.
The survey found 30 percent of younger baby boomers have no emergency savings, more than any other generation.
Bankrate鈥檚 phone survey was conducted June 6 through June 10 and included more than 1,000 household respondents.
