The majority of consumers are not confident they can cover a $1K emergency expense

Many Americans’ bank accounts are on life support.

Some 40 percent of consumers were living paycheck-to-paycheck out of necessity in December 2025, according to a recent survey of 2,465 people from financial data and news site PYMNTS. The sheer number of those waiting on their next paycheck to cover expenses signals a troublesome financial reality for many.

Living paycheck to paycheck – using most of a paycheck for necessities with little or no money left over for savings – became more prevalent as the year went on, PYMNTS found. Some 29 percent of consumers entered 2025 barely surviving on their paychecks, and that number jumped 16 percentage points by December.

  • jtrek@startrek.website
    5·
    1 day ago

    I don’t see a reason not to teach more about personal finance. How interest works. Consequences for missing payments. I knew a guy that when he was 18 just maxed out several credit cards to buy fun stuff. He got out of that hole eventually, but it was a rough couple years.

    I think there’s an underlying problem that I don’t know if you can just teach people, but I think people need to be better at delayed gratification and thinking about consequences. Like that old friend of mine, even if he knew that the credit card debt was going to be more expensive long term, he wanted the tv and stereo now. I don’t know if you can teach that.

    And, even if you could, it’s fucked up that people who are poor through little fault of their own are told to just live with less, while people born into wealth can squander it.

    So, at the end of this tangent, we should have mechanisms so the floor is high enough people can still have a decent life, and the ceiling is low enough that no one has four mansions.