One in Two Texans Has Almost No “Rainy Day” Savings to Bank On
Author:
Don Baylor /(512) 320-0222 x 108
January 31, 2012
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2012 Assets and Opportunity Texas State Profile >>
2012 Assets and Opportunity Scorecard >>
In Texas today, 27.7 percent of households are “asset poor,” meaning they have little or no financial cushion to rely on if unemployment or another emergency leads to a loss of income, according to a report from the national nonprofit Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED). Excluding important assets such as a vehicle or home, the (liquid) asset poverty rate increases to 50.6 percent of Texas residents.
The 2012 Assets & Opportunity Scorecard ranked Texas 41st in the country overall for how their residents fare in terms of achieving financial security across 52 measures in five different issue areas. Many of Texas’ residents have jobs, but they lack adequate savings or other assets to cover expenses for three months if they lose a steady income. Asset poverty, the Scorecard’s signature measure, is a conservative estimate of financial security since it counts all assets, including those—such as a home—that would need to be liquidated to be used for day-to-day needs. A more realistic measure of the resources available to families is “liquid asset poverty,” which excludes assets such as a home or car that are not easily converted to cash.