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Comment by iambateman | Hacker News Reader

Another poster asked this, but does this mean this group has less than $1000 in liquid assets, or less than $1000 in a "savings account"?

Also it would be helpful to see how this has changed over time.

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I've seen this study before from another source, and it seemed pretty clear the answer was "Savings Account", as opposed to checking account or investments.

If that's the case here, then this is a beyond-vapid statistic. Savings accounts are worthless. $1000 in my savings account will, after ten years, earn me $5 in interest.

Where would you suggest putting liquid emergency funds?

Any bank account will do. Savings or checking? Who cares these days?

What assets? That Ram on the driveway loaded with a bike/jetski/boat on a trailer? 50' TV? iphones all around? its all on lease 40 days away from being repo'd.

This has totally never happened before.

https://us-history-the-great-depression.wikispaces.com/Easy+...

My house is an asset yet I owe quite a bit of money on it. Which way does it tilt the balance sheet for this survey?

Worth - mortgage principle = savings.

I can think of one reasonable instance in which home equity may have equivalent liquidity as a savings account: when filing for bankruptcy.

Not for this survey though. It looks like it is purely about money in a savings account, which is a pretty poor measure.

Since it's talking about savings I would assume it means highly liquid assets I would assume a house wouldn't be liquid enough to use in the survey just stuff like how much money you have saved.

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