Anonymous wrote:Well to answer the question on the title, yes we do have 500$ but DH has also had friends hit him up to borrow (knowing full well it won't ever be paid back). It probably is fairly common for friends to ask to borrow. 500$ seems like a crazy small amount but some people love pay check to pay check.

Such a "crazy small amount" but you won't help. Lol.

We are this family for both of our extended families (the "bank," more or less). We generally do loan or gift the money, particularly if the requester has kids and/or is in some kind of pickle that we are aware of (job loss, sickness, etc). But we've also both been burned by loaning money only to find out later the person had a drug/pill problem and we were unwittingly enabling it. So you have to know where to draw the line and what you're comfortable with, both in giving and deciding not to give.

My brother and his wife. He's a vet and is estranged from our entire family, left his wife and kid a few years ago. She's a HS drop-out who strings together retail jobs.

My father and mother graciously pay for half her rent and will continue to do so until their grandson graduates HS (two more years).

Well sometimes people do have access to money. They could be trying to cover something up with their spouse.

I often don't have $500 in my emergency hooker and blow "account" for things that I don't want the wife to know about. If I am really desperate and need cash I tell the wife my "friend" needs $500.

NPR had a story yesterday about unexpected medical expenses, and they noted that more than half of Americans couldn’t pay for a surprise $1,000 expense.

I went through a period in my early/mid twenties when I didn’t have that kind of cash buffer, but I’m sure my parents would have helped on any true emergency. Thankfully I’m through that now (knocks on wood, as I know fortunes can change).

Well to answer the question on the title, yes we do have 500$ but DH has also had friends hit him up to borrow (knowing full well it won't ever be paid back). It probably is fairly common for friends to ask to borrow. 500$ seems like a crazy small amount but some people love pay check to pay check.

My brother in law
Two cousins on my mom’s side and their adult offspring

You can “loan” it, but you’ll never get it back.

I would never loan someone money. I either decide to gift it or I don’t give it at all. DO NOT LOAN SOMEONE MONEY.

For many, many years I did not have any extra money. I lived paycheck to paycheck and knew to the penny how much money I had in my bank account. Not everybody has emergency funds. My circumstances is that I grew up poor, got my college education partially by tuition reimbursement from companies that worked at, adèle I took the plunge at the age of 27 quit my job, got student loans and finished my degree. And after college I still lived paycheck to paycheck because I had to pay my loans back, had car payments, had to pay rent, etc. it was after I was out of debt that I finally start saving. I was never a big spender. It’s just I did not have Rich parents to set me on my path. I’m just trying to give you a different perspective as to why someone might not have emergency funds. It happens.

Anonymous wrote:At least one million Americans cannot. And many of them are working their asses off to try to have a savings buffer but really don’t have the income to do it.

1 million household or 1 million people?

Anonymous wrote:At least one million Americans cannot. And many of them are working their asses off to try to have a savings buffer but really don’t have the income to do it.

Oops forgot the link. https://www.minneapolisfed.org/article/2021/what-a-400-dollar-emergency-expense-tells-us-about-the-economy

At least one million Americans cannot. And many of them are working their asses off to try to have a savings buffer but really don’t have the income to do it.

These people do have access to 500... your family!

Dh received a text message last night from a friend asking to borrow $500. We have a money rules in our family. Anything over $100, we both have to agree before expensive purchase. This is not the first time dh friend reached out to borrow money. We both agree not to loan him money this time.my question is basically do you have people in your lives that are comfortable asking for money? How many people don't have access to $500 for emergency?