A new national survey has found that nearly one-quarter of Americans would be unable to tap into their savings to cover the costs of a $250 emergency expense.
According to a poll of 1,500 adults conducted by Breeze, an insurtech company focused on disability insurance coverage, 24% of respondents admitted not having the funds to handle an emergency $250 expense while 47% couldn’t cover a $1,000 expense.
As hypothetical emergency expenses become costlier, more respondents acknowledged their inability to absorb such costs: 73% said they couldn’t cover a $10,000 expense and 75% couldn’t cover an expense of over $10,000.
The survey also found female respondents had greater problems related to personal savings; for example, 57% of women said they couldn’t cover a $1,500 expense compared to 38% of men.
The restrictions on personal savings are also having an impact on the upcoming holiday shopping season. For respondents living paycheck-to-paycheck (which the survey defined as those unable to cover a $3,000 or less expense), at least 61% said they were reducing their 2021 holiday budget based on their financial state.
