In the fourth quarter of 2024, increased economic pressures continued to affect households in the United States. With inflation at 2.9% by December, 65%
That was my thought… if you don’t need at least part of a paycheck to pay bills, you must be in great shape… or you aren’t managing your money correctly.
“Nah, nah, I don’t need to set aside any of this check for rent, I’ll just pay it all out of the next check…”
I have enough saved up that I could probably go a couple months without pay before I ran out of money. Honestly, I’m not even that well off: Most months I spend my paycheque ±5%, if I go over I take it from a buffer account where I have about 60% of a paycheque and try to backfill it over the next couple months.
In my situation, I’m regularly low-key stressed that my buffer account is running low, and that I haven’t been able to backfill it for several months in a row. I can’t even begin to imagine how stressful it must be not even have something to fall back on if you suddenly get an extra expense that eats 10 % of your paycheque one month.
I’m still waiting for the day my “buffer account” is large enough that I don’t need to stress about finances. Now, it would last me about 2.5 years and that’s apparently still not enough.
That was my thought… if you don’t need at least part of a paycheck to pay bills, you must be in great shape
I suppose it’s all relative, but in many cases being able to survive one missed paycheque could mean simply having $1k in the bank. Surviving several months is another story.
Only 2/3?
That was my thought… if you don’t need at least part of a paycheck to pay bills, you must be in great shape… or you aren’t managing your money correctly.
“Nah, nah, I don’t need to set aside any of this check for rent, I’ll just pay it all out of the next check…”
I have enough saved up that I could probably go a couple months without pay before I ran out of money. Honestly, I’m not even that well off: Most months I spend my paycheque ±5%, if I go over I take it from a buffer account where I have about 60% of a paycheque and try to backfill it over the next couple months.
In my situation, I’m regularly low-key stressed that my buffer account is running low, and that I haven’t been able to backfill it for several months in a row. I can’t even begin to imagine how stressful it must be not even have something to fall back on if you suddenly get an extra expense that eats 10 % of your paycheque one month.
I’m still waiting for the day my “buffer account” is large enough that I don’t need to stress about finances. Now, it would last me about 2.5 years and that’s apparently still not enough.
I suppose it’s all relative, but in many cases being able to survive one missed paycheque could mean simply having $1k in the bank. Surviving several months is another story.