看紐約時報學英語 - Too Many Households Are Short on Emergency Savings - 太多美國家庭 應急存款不足

太多美國家庭 應急存款不足

六周的實質薪資。

摩根大通研究單位的一項新分析發現，一個家庭在收入與支出出現狀況時要能安然度過，這是必須存下的金額。

這項建議是以對摩根大通數百萬個支票帳戶的分析為根據，比起傳統經驗法則要存三至六個月分的實質收入，少了很多。

但是即使如此，大多數家庭存款仍然不足，這分報告發現，大約三分之二家庭缺乏建議的預備存款。

為了因應同時發生的支出飆升及收入驟減，一個中等收入家庭約需要5000美元應急資金，但實際上只有2000美元， 少了3000美元。低收入家庭約需2500美元，實際上卻只有700美元。

這些發現可見於摩根大通研究所上個月底發表的收入波動報告之中。這分報告檢視至去年12月為止的大約六年期間內，600萬個使用中的支票帳戶的存入和支出金額。

美國人缺乏應急儲蓄多年來一直令人引以為憂。匹優慈善信託2015年發現，許多家庭缺少支應一筆2000美元開銷的儲蓄。而且聯邦準備理事會也一再發現，相當比例的家庭應付突如其來的400美元支出會有困難。
但是，根據美國退休人員協會公共政策研究所（AARP）上個月的報告，在目前長期的經濟成長和低失業率下，許多家庭依然缺少應急現金令人洩氣。該協會發現，超過半數（53%）的美國家庭沒有應急儲蓄帳戶，包括大多數50歲以上民眾。

AARP發現，雖然手頭較寬裕者存錢更容易，卻有一些低收入家庭仍能努力存下了錢，一些高收入家庭反倒沒有。這分報告發現，舉例來說，一年收入超過15萬美元的美國人中，有四分之一沒有應緊儲蓄帳戶。

AARP報告的作者凱薩琳．哈維說，不論收入多寡，沒有應急存款的家庭都更可能陷入財務困境。

哈維提醒我們，沒有特定應急儲蓄帳戶並不表示沒有應付意外支出的計畫，包括向親友借錢。不過她同時指出，顯而易見的是，我們必須更積極推廣應急儲蓄的觀念，讓所有家庭財務更靈活強靭。

應急存款「對我們所有人應付經常出現的明顯問題而言，都是必要的，不論是我們住家、車子或醫療的花費。」美國消費者協會旗下的「美國存錢」活動執行長巴拉尼說。

Too Many Households Are Short on Emergency Savings

Six weeks of take-home pay.

That’s how much cash families should aim to set aside to ride out gyrations in their income and expenses, a new analysis from JPMorgan Chase’s research arm finds.

The recommendation, based on an analysis of millions of Chase checking accounts, is considerably less than the traditional rule of thumb of three to six months of take-home pay.

But even so, most households fall short, the report found: About two-thirds lack the recommended buffer.

To cushion against a simultaneous spike in expenses and dip in income, a middle-income family needs about $5,000 in a rainy-day fund but has just $2,000 — a gap of $3,000. Lower-income families need about $2,500 but have just $700.

The findings were part of a report on income volatility that the JPMorgan Chase Institute published late last month. The report examined inflows and outflows from 6 million active checking accounts over a period of about six years that ended in December.

Americans’ lack of emergency savings has been a concern for years. The Pew Charitable Trusts found in 2015 that many families lacked funds to cover a $2,000 expense. And the Federal Reserve has repeatedly found that a significant share of households would struggle to cope with an unexpected $400 expense.

But in the current long period of economic growth and low unemployment, it is especially frustrating that many families continue to lack a cash buffer, according to a report last month from the AARP Public Policy Institute. The AARP found that more than half of American households (53%) lacked an emergency savings account, including a majority of people over age 50.

While it’s easier for more affluent people to save, some low-income families do manage to set aside money while higher-income families do not, the AARP found. For instance, a quarter of Americans earning more than $150,000 a year have no emergency savings account, the report found.

Regardless of their income, families with no emergency savings are more likely to suffer financial hardship, said Catherine S. Harvey, the author of the AARP report.

Harvey cautioned that just because people didn’t have a specific emergency savings account didn’t mean they lacked a plan to deal with unexpected expenses — even if it was borrowing from relatives and friends. But it’s clear, she said, that more must be done to promote emergency savings to make families more financially resilient.
Emergency savings are “necessary to meet the obvious issues that arise on a consistent basis for all of us, whether it’s costs for our home, car or health,” said George Barany, director of America Saves, a campaign that is managed by the Consumer Federation of America.


說文解字看新聞

本文介紹美國民眾普遍缺乏應急存款的現象，第三段提到依據經驗法則應存下的大約金額。rule of thumb 指累積經驗而得來，且可廣泛應用的不成文原則，但並非百分之百正確與適用。例如As a rule of thumb, your mortgage does not exceed one third of your monthly income.
同一段的take-home pay，字面意思指「拿回家的薪水」，也就是扣除稅額及其他必要費用後的實得薪資，在台灣的話就是指扣掉所得稅、勞保和健保後的薪水。earning或pay泛指所有收入，salary指的是全職工作的收入，wage偏向體力或基層勞動工作所得，income指帳面上的收入數字，與之相對的則是expense（支出）。
第四段的buffer，平常比較常在電腦相關的文章見到，指的是緩衝記憶體，本文指的是保護家庭的emergency savings，可在突然需要大筆支出時作為緩衝。

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