The fact that almost half do not have 400.00 in case of an emergency is scary. How many of those spend 400 a month on phone plans, tv, internet, hair extensions, crap.

I write two checks to Los Angeles County each year for property tax, in April and November.

I'd prefer to have my money available to me and not sitting in an escrow account doing nothing.

To be fair, it's early in the month. I get paid once a month and it's the last day of each month. Hit me up the last week of each month and I am drinking natty ice and eating like a college student.

There is absolutely no way 47% of American's don't have $400 either in the bank or cash to pay for an emergency. No freaking way.

Maybe like 15% I would believe. Hell, even when I was a freshman in college I had $400 that I could use for emergency for FFS.

My escrow pays for property tax AND my home owner's premium. I just couldn't be bothered paying them myself. I've never given it a second thought (or a first one until now).

Wal-Mart used to track disposable income by the amount of sales in their stores. They call it the Burn Rate. Depending on the time of the week, month, they would offer discounts on certain items that people could afford.

I'm guessing this is accurate. There are a ton of people that use credit cards with no intention of ever paying the balance in full.

11 years ago I would live paycheck to paycheck as a young private in the Army with a wife and a baby..as a few years went by and I was always deployed or training I wasn't spending money but was always broke..no savings or anything

Few more years go by and I get rid of the wife..money is always in my account and I got a pretty good amount in a savings and 2 more savings accounts where both kids have money for college

Moral of the story is..don't have a wife

I haven't been without $400 extra bucks since high school.

Barely.

Work has been a little slow so I've been making less, and putting more towards my 401k and paying off some credit cards. Plus i just got like $1000 worth of dental work done and have spent a little too much on going out and having fun.

If worse comes to worst, i can always ask my parents to loan me money in case of an emergency (I'm 31, I've borrowed less than $400 from my parents in my life) sell a gun, or dip into my 401k (i think i have like 22k in that thing)

Do you know how many people live in poverty? Coupled with people who live paycheck to paycheck because they cant manage money Im surprised its not higher than 47%.

Wow. I have separate accounts for Homeowner's, Earthquake, Auto and Umbrella policies, all of which are deducted each month from my bank account.

There have been times in the past in which I've changed insurers due to deals and lower rates and I've been with Allstate for about a decade now.

When your insurance is wrapped up in an escrow account, is it still possible to get multi-policy deals and discounted rates?

Proving you've been out of touch since at least April 2006

It's really not enough for me to get worked up about, to be honest. Yes, everything else (life, cars, etc.) is discount bundled and I pay that every month (obviously).

That's what I have as "emergency money", a credit card with $5K avail. I doubt I'll have an emergency more costly than that. I've put every penny extra into my 401 and paying down my mortgage. I don't have any cash and almost nothing in the checking most days