Bankrate.com’s monthly Financial Security Index shows that most families do not have the proper financial cushion to make it through an emergency. Approximately 75 million Americans do not have any financial cushion, and one fifth would run out of money after 12 weeks if they had to live off of their savings or annuity investments, according to the index.
"The majority of Americans still have much work to do in building an adequate emergency savings cushion," said Greg McBride, a senior financial analyst at Bankrate.com.
The struggling economy has left many Americans without any extra money to put it into a savings account. The index also found that people are more concerned about job security and their overall financial situation.
The individuals most likely to have a substantial savings cushion were high-income earners in their 50s and 60s. Many experts feel that a large majority are struggling financially because they are still recovering from the recession.
After starting to make positive gains, the country’s unemployment rate rose back up to 9.1 percent last month and more than 6 million Americans have been unemployed for more than six months.