MetLife says Half Of Workers Are Just Two Paychecks away from calamity

[seemslikeadream]

http://www.bostongals.com/2009/03/metlife-says-half-of-workers-are-just.html

MetLife's press release announcing the finding of a new study: THE AMERICAN DREAM HAS BEEN REVISED NOT REVERSED, PRAGMATISM IS REPLACING CONSUMERISM AS THE BAR STOPS RISING / BUYER’S REMORSE SETS IN, ACCORDING TO THIRD ANNUAL METLIFE STUDY finds that many are living on the financial edge:
A disturbing 50% of Americans say they are only one month — or only two paychecks — or less away from not being able to meet their financial obligations if they were to lose their job, and more than half of these, a startling 28% of the total respondents, couldn’t survive financially for more than two weeks. Even the “mass affluent” — those making $100,000+ in income per year — aren’t immune with more than one-quarter (29%) saying that they couldn’t meet their financial obligations for more than one month following a job loss.
Not all that surprising for those of us who pay attention to the personal finance pages, but a bummer to hear none-the-less.

Additional findings from the study:

[girl gone mad]

1. It's true - this is happening at all income levels.

A good friend of mine does commercial loan approvals, usually in the $10 mil+ range. He tells me stories all of the time about people with millions in debt and literally nothing in savings.

[seemslikeadream]

3. Serfs comes to mind

[acmavm]

10. NOT at ALL levels. There's a percentage of the population who

will never feel the loss and pain of poverty.

They're the guys for the administration is opening the vaults of the Treasury and throwing money at as fast as they can.

[cliffordu]

2. Those are the nice folks who will have the nervous breakdowns and start

shooting up malls......

Oh. Wait a minute...

[Octafish]

4. Unless you're Gisele Bundchen, you're out of credit.

If you're Tom Brady, you are S.O.L.



Boom boom goes Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen's second wedding

And no one should think they are above other men or women or children.

[Toucano]

5. Being two paychecks away from calamity would be an improvement for many. n-t

[grace0418]

11. Yeah, considering it's been a long time since many Americans have seen two paychecks.

I was laid off in December. Luckily I've had some freelance work lately, but don't know when that will dry up.

[guitar man]

14. ain't it the truth

Just about every day is a calamity for my family. I'm still working full time, wife is working part time, but wages aren't keeping up with the rising cost of health coverage and everything else. I've never worked harder to have less in my life. :(

[MedioGringo]

6. Ahh the ugly truth.

There is no real middle class anymore. Americans got used to a comfortable lifestyle that US industry and unions built in the 50's and 60's, and as that has eroded they continuously resorted to credit to maintain a standard of living they were accustomed to and felt entitled to. When the economy goes bad, we realized the image of a rich and thriving middle class was a house of cards built on a consumption level that could not be sustained by stagnant incomes. We'll be seeing a lot of suffering in the next few months.

[Autumn]

9. Excellent post

Welcome to DU.

[The2ndWheel]

12. "Americans got used to a comfortable lifestyle that US industry and unions built"

On the foundation of cheap energy. Without cheap energy, there is no middle class. The other side of that is that with cheap energy, you need people less, other than to consume. There was that brief moment where labor was ahead of capital in the US, which is when unions were strongest in this country. Then the world eventually opened up after the world wars. As long as place matters, labor has the upper hand. As soon as place no longer makes any difference, you're fighting a losing battle.

[earth mom]

7. K & R. nt

[hfojvt]

8. gee, here's what they said in 2007

"However, an underlying conflict exists. Only half say their hard work actually pays off, and no matter how hard they try, they can’t get ahead. An overwhelming majority of those surveyed (86%) feel Americans are working harder than ever just to get by. This is consistent with prior MetLife research indicating that more Americans are living paycheck to paycheck than ever before."

Too bad for the Cassandras that so many of us did not die in the last two years. Better luck next time, eh?

[Wednesdays]

13. K&R

I'm probably among those in that category. :(

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

15. It's been a P.T. Barnum economy built on credit cards for a long time.

Finally, somebody noticed the house of cards has no foundation.

[Stevenmarc]

16. And of course Met Life will sell you a product to protect you.

[dysfunctional press]

17. when our refi goes thru, we should get a little breathing room...

and be more like 3 or 4 paychecks away from calamity.