Could you come up with $2000 cash within 24 hours?

[creekland]

Poll coming.

 

A news show I was watching said that 50% of Americans today couldn't come up with $2000 cash if they needed it for an emergency. I'm wondering if our stats match this or not. Non-Americans feel free to answer - these are Hive stats.

 

Edited to clarify: The idea is for an emergency - not for "just because" spending.

 

This assumes nothing goes wrong with banks.

Edited May 26, 2011 by creekland

[Impish]

No. Not without a miracle, or family intervention...pretty much the same thing.

[WishboneDawn]

Yup but we'd be using a LoC that we're working to get rid of. :(

[DawnM]

Yes, we could. We have followed Crown Financial for a few years now and have at least 6 months in our savings account.

 

We wouldn't want to touch it unless absolutely necessary though. And we certainly don't have $2,000 in change in our couch cushions.

 

Dawn

[Melinda]

We could, but we would have to draw it out of the credit union (savings that we have made it purposely difficult to access -- have to drive an hour to get there, etc).

[mom31257]

We could because we try to keep a couple of month's living expenses in savings. We do have a little bit of credit card debt, but I'm not taking the cash out to pay it off. We're just working at paying it off so that we can keep the cash in there for true emergencies.

[HappyCrazyMama]

We could but that's about it.

[amyrjoy]

I said YES, easily however, it's not easy in my mind. It's precious money that we would like not to touch. Lol. But we would be able to, yes, without help at this point. But that isn't the case at other times.

[Margo out of lurking]

I reluctantly voted Yes, because it wouldn't be easy. Yes, in an emergency we could.

[creekland]

I reluctantly voted Yes, because it wouldn't be easy. Yes, in an emergency we could.

 

The idea is for an emergency - not for "just because" spending.

[JessReplanted]

If you were asking me, I would say no.

 

But, my husband is creative, resourceful, and just amazing. :D

He could come up with $2000 or more if he really needed to.

[Chris in VA]

Yep.

[teachermom2834]

I voted "yes" BUT it you upped it by much I would be in the borrow from bank/credit card category.

 

We have much more money available if we borrowed from dh's retirement but I don't think that would be that quick and easy to get to. We do most of our saving in places that aren't accessible in 24 hours. We only keep a couple of thousand liquid because it just seems to disappear unless it is really hard to get to.

[piraterose]

It would make a nice dent in our fledgling savings, but it wouldn't be an issue.

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

I could get the money, but in slightly over 24 hours because it involves a transfer from one bank to another. Just that takes 24 hours. Also, if the emergency happens after 3PM, I have to add another day to the transaction.

So I'm assuming you're not talking about a literal 24 hours, but mean 'a relatively short time'.

 

My money is just a phone call away, but that doesn't mean I'll have cash in my hands instantly. There's a lot of red tape.

[momee]

"No. Not without a miracle, or family intervention...pretty much the same thing."

 

I found this very funny. But after a minute, not so funny after all. Btdt :)

[pooh bear]

Not a hope, could not even come up with that sort of money in a months time.

[Guest momk2000]

I posted yes, but it would have to be an extreme emergency, because it would come from dh's retirement acct. which isn't as well funded as it should be to begin with. We struggle to keep an emergency fund going, since something always seems to come up, but it would have to be pretty bad for us to touch the IRA.

[creekland]

I could get the money, but in slightly over 24 hours because it involves a transfer from one bank to another. Just that takes 24 hours. Also, if the emergency happens after 3PM, I have to add another day to the transaction.

So I'm assuming you're not talking about a literal 24 hours, but mean 'a relatively short time'.

 

My money is just a phone call away, but that doesn't mean I'll have cash in my hands instantly. There's a lot of red tape.

 

I think the key was that one could get the money without needing to sell things that might take a while to sell, cash in investments that can't be cashed in overnight or getting someone's permission when that permission was "iffy" (like on a loan) or something like that.

 

I'm actually guessing their 50% stat might be accurate. I suspect that percentage of the population without access to the internet would be unlikely to be able to come up with the $$. Then add in the hive's percentage of those with internet access. It's plausible. I wasn't sure when I heard (NBC) mention it.

[prairiebird]

no way not now. But we didn't have time to rebuild our emergency fund after our last bout with unemployment (no benefits) and now we're facing unemployment after some underemployment again (but with the possibility of benefits) and there's just nothing there.

 

It's possible someone in DH's family might step in. My side would just pray for us :lol: from their half a million dollar homes.

[peachskittles]

Not a chance. Our families aren't even options. If we needed any type of money beyond the usual, we'd be completely screwed.

[Chelle in MO]

We could, thankfully.

[JoyfulMama]

Yes, I could w/d it from the bank, but there'd be nothing left, so I'd have no deposit on a new place in a couple months, when my lease ends. So it better be a pretty important emergency.

[leeannpal]

We could, but we would have to borrow from family and use some credit. We have been trying to keep money in an emergency fund, and everytime we get some in there, another emergency happens. I know we've had bad luck, but it gets really depressing when you are trying to do the right thing, and keep getting knocked down anyway:sad:

[creekland]

Giving this a bump - and thanks to all who have already voted.

[Paige]

I voted yes, easily, and I have for other people's emergencies, but it isn't really as easy as it sounds. It would hurt and hurt a lot. It would be worse now since we forked it over for my MIL already, and it would probably mean using credit or asking for family help in the near future even if I could scrap the 2,000 together today.

[AngelBee]

Nope.

[Elizabeth in WA]

I could get the money, but in slightly over 24 hours because it involves a transfer from one bank to another. Just that takes 24 hours. Also, if the emergency happens after 3PM, I have to add another day to the transaction.

So I'm assuming you're not talking about a literal 24 hours, but mean 'a relatively short time'.

 

My money is just a phone call away, but that doesn't mean I'll have cash in my hands instantly. There's a lot of red tape.

 

:iagree: We'd have to transfer money, and this could potentially take as long as 5 business days. In the meantime, we could draw it off credit.

[historically accurate]

I voted "Yes, easily", but it would be painful. We have savings worth over $2000 but most of it is earmarked for annual bills, car replacement, etc, but it would be possible.

[tomandlorih]

Yes we could.. Love Dave Ramsey over here at our house!

[Dawn in OH]

A year ago, yes.

Today, no.

Six months from now, yes.

 

Today, I would have to talk to the parents. I don't ever want to have to ask the parents to loan me money again.

[twoforjoy]

On our own, no. We could most likely get it from family, but neither one of us would want to ask unless it were literally a survival situation, so I said "maybe."

[KristinaBreece]

On our own? Not in a month.

 

If it were a matter of life or death for one of my kids, I could get it from my MIL. That would be the only thing that could compel me to borrow money from her, and they're the only family we have that could spare that amount without really hurting themselves.

[Big Buckin' Longhorn]

I voted "no," but technically, "yes." I could pay $2000 today, but I'd have to find a new place to live because I wouldn't have money for rent on the first. So I guess that's why I voted, "no."

[Sputterduck]

Yes, by borrowing. But soon I will be able to do that on my own. I'm building my own house (as in with my own two hands) and after that I won't be paying rent and will be able to save better than now.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Yes, in fact we just had to do this.

[Cedarmom]

Yes, thanks to Dave Ramsey. A year ago it would have been hard without borrowing. I'm grateful to Dave Ramsey and learning how to save. My husband makes enough money we had the ability to save it, but before we always spent as much as he earned. But the recession woke me up to how easily it could all disappear, and now we are working on saving enough for a 6 month emergency fund.

[QuirkyKapers]

Yes

[Robin M]

Yes. My dad's a financial advisor. We keep an emergency supply of cash on hand. In a disaster, it may take a few days for funds to become available from bank.

[Dmmetler]

Easily if the bank is open. I don't know that we could do an ATM withdrawal for that much.

[Food4Thought]

Yes, thanks to Dave Ramsey. A year ago it would have been hard without borrowing. I'm grateful to Dave Ramsey and learning how to save. My husband makes enough money we had the ability to save it, but before we always spent as much as he earned. But the recession woke me up to how easily it could all disappear, and now we are working on saving enough for a 6 month emergency fund.

:iagree:

 

Five years ago, there would have been no way. Thanks to Dave Ramsey and the debt snowball, we've been debt free for over 2 years & stowing away money in savings and retirement. Just last week, I realized we have nearly a year's salary in savings right now (hubby's a pastor, it's really not that much. :tongue_smilie:)

[kchara]

No way I could. My family has the money, they just don't like me. :glare: I might be able to raise $500 from them... maybe... if it was everybody's pay weeks.

[Hwin]

No. And I'm painfully aware of it every single day. We both work and we haven't bought anything remotely "fun" in months, so there's no fat to cut, or ways to make more. It's just what it is right now.

 

ETA We don't have credit cards to pay off, either. We're free and clear there. things are just... tight.

[Hannah C.]

If we emptied out our savings and it was a good time of the month, then yes. Otherwise, we'd be hitting credit cards. (And actually, we'd probably hit credit cards anyway.)

[Brindee]

Amy of GA,

Amy, I just think this is such a sweet picture! :001_smile: It's worthy of framing!

 

 

OP--We might be able to scrounge up, not sure, but it wouldn't be easy! :tongue_smilie:

Edited May 26, 2011 by Brindee

[Brindee]

No way I could. My family has the money, they just don't like me. :glare: I might be able to raise $500 from them... maybe... if it was everybody's pay weeks.

Oh, if we're talking getting it from family, then no, never would be able to get that amount. :tongue_smilie: They like me just fine, they just don't have it to give! :001_smile:

[Spryte]

Another yes vote, thanks to Dave Ramsey. We are not debt free, but have a plan and a substantial emergency fund (we chose a higher amount for our ER fund based on past experience). But I have to agree that taking that much out of savings would be painful, and rebuilding the ER fund would become a priority.

[SeekingSimplicity]

With things like they are right now, I'd be hard pressed to come up with $20 much less $2000. Times are tough

[eternalknot]

Yes, I could.

 

And if I couldn't, I know in one phone call to my family would take care of it - no strings, no questions.

[happyhomemaker25]

Two years ago? Yes. One year ago? Yes.

Right now? No.

Two years of unemployment has completely trashed our savings. I'm thankful we had the money for the last two years though. I can't imagine living the last two years like we have just the last few months. It's rough.

Please, if you don't have any savings, find a way to start NOW. It truly is one of the only things that kept us afloat the last two years. Not having it now is very nerve racking!