Choques financeiros pessoais

A Bloomberg tem uma pequena notícia acerca de um estudo do JPMorgan Chase Institute acerca de choques financeiros pessoais, como despesas médicas não planeadas, arranjos de carros, perda de emprego. A conclusão é que muitas pessoas não estão preparadas para estes choques, especialmente se tiverem uma natureza persistente. Mesmo quem ganha um bom salário precisa de uma almofada de protecção -- activos líquidos -- significativa. As despesas da saúde são um dos maiores riscos aos quais os americanos estão expostos.

The greatest amount turned out to be a $5,300 monthly variation, for households of people between the ages of 35 and 54 with household income above $104,600. The $5,300 is the cash that household would need to have on hand if its income declined by 30 percent and its spending increased by 30 percent in the same month.

[...]

"Health care, auto expenses, and taxes were often behind the spikes the analysts found in spending data. The report notes that "four in 10 families make an extraordinary payment of roughly $1,500 related to medical services, auto repair, or taxes in a given year." The money for that may come from tax refunds: The think tank found that April is when medical bills were paid most frequently.

To judge whether the various households had the liquid assets to cover their fluctuations, the think tank used data from the U.S. census (which don't match up perfectly with its own age and income ranges). One conclusion: The $5,300 wouldn't be a big issue for the households with income above $104,600.

The institute also measured for an even worse storm, to see if households had liquid assets to meet the challenges posed by the 90 percentile of "adverse income and spending fluctuations" measured. The high-earning households could meet that demand, too, but they'd be covering that extreme exposure by a thin margin. The cash cushion needed was $13,800; the liquid assets on hand, $13,500."

[...]

Paying big medical bills had a lasting impact on financial stability. Many families have to turn to credit card debt to cover big medical payments. "A year after the extraordinary medical payment families still have 9 percent more revolving credit card debt and 2 percent lower cash reserves than baseline levels," according to the report.


Fonte: Bloomberg