I was right on the edge of being able to pay rent on time, for the first time in six months.

Then a family member arrived in town and has been staying with me. His other option is staying on the street or in a shelter, both options of which make his health issues worse. This has disrupted my sleep and psychological rest, resulting in me being able to work less.

Also, I got rear ended while stopped at a red light last week, giving me a concussion. This has also reduced the amount I can work.

I’m extremely worried about my financial status. I cannot cover the expenses I have, let alone any unexpected new expenses.

I’m squarely on the road to being homeless, unless a miracle happens.

Ever read Miller's Death of a Salesman? well it's almost like that, but without any insurance.

I've certainly been worse of, but not I'm not.. Great. ButI have a roof over my head and me and the cat are fed. I can enjoy a video game here and there. However, I don't have $1,000. Not for lack of trying, but things happen (moved, sick cat, broken car, the usual). I personally like to have at least one month of rent, but that doesn't always happen.

Sometimes it just works out that everything I need takes everything I have.

I read that half of Americans couldn’t cover an unexpected $1,000 expense.

Without borrowing or selling property, yeah. Not a lot of people have that much liquid cash laying around.

But I wouldn't assume that this would be some kind of economic devastation. Our whole system revolves around easy credit.

If the unexpected expense is something that can be paid for on a credit card, that 20% interest isn't exactly ideal but for many people it can be a simple task of buying now and paying it off over 2 or 3 months. For them, $1000 isn't a lifestyle changing expense.

For others, $1000 might be devastating. It might be the difference between making rent or not, and ultimately lead to eviction and maybe even homelessness.

So liquidity is a different question from financial health or resilience, even if they're somewhat correlated. There are other metrics out there more directly measuring financial stability or vulnerability.

I credit my success to some hard work but mostly luck. At the end of the day my first job was from a recommendation. I believe interviewed well, sure, but I don't think they would've taken my resume otherwise. I'm extremely fortunate to be where I am financially.

Shit still happens though. I lost my job about a year ago and was unemployed for like 6ish months. I had enough money in savings that it didn't really matter but it still sucked. One thing that has been difficult for me is watching what I say. As an example, some stupid shit happened and I feel like a company owes us ~$800 and another one ~$200. (Not going into details because they're irrelevant and I want to move on from the stress.) These things royally pissed me off. I still get upset when little things happen and I lose money. I hate it. It sucks. As much as I want to get comfort from my friends by venting about it, sometimes it's better to shut up. Because some of them mostly just hear how I'm able to withstand losses like that and that in turn makes them feel upset that they aren't. It's a tricky thing.

As for my philosophy, for the most part my wife and I have been able to spend within our means without much aggressive or intentional budgeting. It's only been since the job loss and her being unemployed to pursue writing a novel that things have gotten tight. (And by right I just mean our savings aren't noticably increasing.)

Failures? Well, let's ignore stuff like crypto and stock picks because that's just gambling. I wish I had started maxing out my 401k in my 20s. I started on my early 30s. Also, we used to have a truly stupid amount of money in a checking account. We should've put it into stocks (as in total market ETFs) earlier.

OH. THIS IS IMPORTANT. I WISH SOMEONE WOULD'VE TOLD ME HIGH YIELD CHECKING ACCOUNTS EXIST. Like, holy hell. I should've done that ages ago. I don't even wanna think about how much money I've lost on, especially because we kept a stupidly high amount of cash in our checking account... I still haven't moved it because it's hard and I'm lazy but wow wow wow. This is stupidly important. The reason savings accounts are annoying so because it's a little harder to get to your cash. But a checking account with interest? Hot damn.

Lastly, I've never had a credit card. It's been fine but it would've been nice to get the tiny marginal benefits of cash back and stuff.

Financially, we are well enough to have my family’s needs met comfortably but frugally. Can’t really ask for more, though additional breathing room would be nice. We can afford emergencies and recover after some time.

My parents and grandparents taught frugality; luck made ends meet like a good job and buying a house at the right time.

We have a bit of savings I have in mutual funds because I’m currently too mentally tired and risk-averse to pick something with higher return potential.

There are a lot of very poor people in the US compared to other developed countries. There are also a lot more extremely rich people. The inequality is palpable, and it shows in the stats. The US government also doesn't step in with coverage when it comes to healthcare, unemployment and other emergencies to the same degree as governments in other western countries.

I can't cover an unexpected 1k. Thats my entire bank account. Every month my paycheck is eaten by bills and obligations and every other month my rent raises while my salary stays the same. I have 1 dollar in my savings, but a 401k with 5k in it. I also have kids and a wife that stays at home to watch them. May not be the best financially but I can't actually afford daycare to begin with.

Better than ever. But I hate my job with a deep and burning passion, and I'm pretty deeply burnt out. So I'm not sure what to do. I'm worried that I won't be able to find anything that pays as well.

I can currently cover a $1000 expense, but if something else happens that costs that much I'll have to use my credit card, and if a third thing happens I'm fucked.

My relationship with money isn't good ("not wise" might be a better term), and now that I know my parents as an adult, I understand that both of them are terrible with money. Do I blame them? I try not to, but sometimes that's hard when I see how they continue to make poor $$ choices. My mom constantly made over 6 figures for a good portion of her later life, but now can't work, and she has nothing but social security to live off of. Through the years she's used up all her retirement and savings a few times on things like saving houses she eventually loses anyway.

My dad just dropped the news that he owes 80k to the IRS because he's been pulling from his retirement for years now to sustain his lifestyle in a high-cost area.

Myself? I didn't really get my shit together financially until I was in my mid 30s. Mostly my fault, though there were a few things that happened outside of my control that forced me to "start over" financially. That's life.

My relationship with money now is respectful. I take the time and care to slowly work my way through understanding what to do and how to do it. I only have one credit card and it's a low amount, so it can't get wildly out of control but it's there if I need it.

Right now I've got around 1.5k in savings (not including my 401/Roth). My plan is to save up to 10k for an emergency fund and then start to invest what I save up after that.

I listen to a lot of Caleb Hammer on YouTube. It helps, haha.

I've always saved very aggressively, even when I didn't have any money. When I first moved out, I ate nothing but rice, lentils, eggs, and lard for several months to save a slush fund. Even today, I make ~15-20k USD below median income for my city, and I've managed to save just shy of 10k in the past year and a half.

Obviously the ongoing coat of living crisis is a big deal that needs to be addressed, but we also need to acknowledge that saving your money is unpleasant, and a significant number of people aren't willing to do what's necessary in order to build financial security.

My friends (I don't get out much, I only have a couple) all have significantly better income/expense ratios than I do, and have exactly nothing saved. Honestly I don't think that would change if you gave them all an extra $20k/year, because they will find a way to rationalize something into being a necessity.

My relationship with money is kinda weird. When I was a kid I would always save my allowance, but my siblings would steal it from me. My parents never did anything about it. When I had finally had enough, I stole some money back and then said all the bullshit excuses I had received over the years. The stealing stopped then.

I don't like money and I don't care much about material stuff. When I was in university, I was dirt poor, but I managed. Then I got a shitty job and didn't make a lot of money, but it was so much more than what I had before, that my bank account started to grow. And that made me very nervous. Every time I saw my balance I panicked. I didn't know what to do with all that money, there was nothing I really wanted or thought I could have. I did go on a vacation then, which was great, but I felt really guilty afterwards about the expenses I'd made.

After some time I lost my job and since then I've received benefits. Because of the system here and because I'm still quite frugal, I still have a significant back account. In a few months' time I will hear if I will keep receiving benefits or not, and if I spend the money now, it will be beneficial for me financially. I should basically buy something expensive and eat out and buy lots of clothes before the government takes my money, but I can't. I'm just not able to.

What doesn't help is that I hate the fact that the world is in such a miserable state. Sure, I could buy a car, but I don't need it and why would I mess up the environment even more just for my own pleasure and comfort? The same goes for clothing, equipment, furniture, anything. I don't like this capitalist system that produces crap and ruins the planet. I don't want it. But there's nothing I can do about it other than what I already do. Also, most of the stuff you can buy nowadays is just plastic crap. I can't even find decent cotton socks anymore, it's all plastic. And it all breaks way too quickly, just so you have to buy new plastic crap again. Fuck that.

I made a few bad moves in my 20s because I had no basis of understanding when it came to money (parents are bad with money too and never taught me anything useful), have spent my 30s desperately treading water trying to get ahead, but it seems impossible with rent going through the roof, food going crazy, plus now I have medical debt on top of my school debt... my really big mistake was wanting to help people by becoming a social worker.

What pisses me off the most is that if you're a plumber you get to walk in and demand whatever price you feel like, but if you're someone who helps society, society gets to cram it up your ass and tell you to smile about it. Same goes for anyone who works for society: teachers, cops, firefighters, EMTs, social workers, librarians, nurses, etc... I don't get why we don't all just join together and let society fucking die until they agree to pay us what we're really worth.

Edit: to clarify, I'm not saying plumbers aren't helping society. I'm saying when inflation goes up, plumber's prices go up to match... If you're being paid by tax money, you don't get to do that. Nothing against plumbers, it was just an example.

Everyone is getting fucked in our capitalist nightmare, but if you work for Walmart, WALMART investors are fucking you over... If you work for any of those jobs I listed above, SOCIETY is fucking you over (yes, I get that at the end of the day it's still those Walmart investors fucking us over because the same 1% own everything and stop society from paying us what we're worth by refusing to pay their fair share of taxes)

My wife and I are comfortable. Both of our parents have worked in banking and taught us budgeting beyond what school taught us.

Keeping a steady well paying job is key. Sadly, there are so many people who no fault of their own can't get well paying jobs or live in areas where well paying jobs are rare.

Not great, but I might be able to cover a grand in an emergency.

Not sure if youre only asking Americans, but in case this is for everyone:

I'm doing pretty well.
Could probably scrape by for a year if my wife and I both lost our jobs.

Mainly lucked into success:
My boss from a summer job when I was in college knew the boss of an internship I was applying for, and put in a good word for me.
They hired me upon graduation, but went under shortly after, however a large company was on a hiring spree right at that time and I landed a job there with a hefty pay bump.
Then I got laid off there right as a local startup was on a hiring spree to increase their valuation because they were looking to be acquired by a major high-tech company, and they hired me, again with a hefty pay bump.
They got acquired, and I started working on a team based on San Francisco. Because wages here were so much lower than the bay area, they were throwing raises at me because it was pennies to them.
I've been there for over 10 years.

As long as AI doesn't make my job redundant, I'll be good for the foreseeable future.

Barely surviving, but not from everyday expenses. Got two kids in college and this year FAFSA decided not to give any help to anyone so all expenses are on me.

I do well enough to comfortably support my wife and me. I have a retirement plan, put a small amount into saving, and don't buy things on credit (besides to pay them off immediately for rewards points). I have paid off my car and it should last me a good long while. I do have student loans outstanding but I pay those down and my work provides a stipend each month that effectively doubles my payment on that. I have some small investment accounts to play the stock market, but not life-changing money. We have plenty of money leftover after the mortgage to live just as comfortably as I would like.

This all being said, I am an outlier in the current economy. Most are paid too little for too much work and I would happily pay more for most products if I thought the money was going to the employees, but I know they are given the smallest amount possible.

It's not remotely crazy, and I have lived there. I had times where I foraged for berries and plants for food, and was lucky enough to know how and where to do so. That was a long time ago, before wages stagnated and inflation went bananas. I'm surprised more people aren't starving to death today, just looking at the numbers.

It is crazy given my healthcare costs are 2k. I pretty much have a monthly nut of 6k and my wife and I do not live a lavish lifestyle oh and I won't be able to work much more before I will have to figure out retirement. I will be in ruin if I can't produce thousands a month.

After school I had one week of cash left when I got my first job. I moved to a tiny town to work in the mining industry. Pay to cost of living is very good. I've always been careful with money and dislike shopping.

I save about 50% annual income. This is piled up in various investments. I can retire before 40.

I have about 1 year worth of expenses in cash I can access tomorrow. I try to keep at least 3 months but I'm squirreling away extra for known upcoming expenses.