[atom-morgan]

I would say your family is unique in this case based on this article I read earlier this year.

"Approximately 62% of Americans have no emergency savings for things such as a $1,000 emergency room visit or a $500 car repair, according to a new survey of 1,000 adults by personal finance website Bankrate.com. Faced with an emergency, they say they would raise the money by reducing spending elsewhere (26%), borrowing from family and/or friends (16%) or using credit cards (12%)."

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/most-americans-are-one-payc...

[tw04]

That says nothing about whether or not they have a retirement fund. When I was fresh out of college for the first few years that described me to a T, but I still had money going into a 401k every month.

[superuser2]

Nope. Retirement savings are typically in 401k and IRA accounts, which are untouchable (without enormous penalty) until age 59.5. It's entirely possible (though irrational) to have six or seven figures in retirement savings but no emergency fund.

[nommm-nommm]

People who go broke if they had a $1000 emergency are not the same people maxing out their 401(k)... plus about half of Americans have no retirement accounts at all.

[superuser2]

Not maxing it out, but many people have an automatic 5-15% payroll deduction that may even be on by default. That money is already out of sight and out of mind, same as tax withholding. Whereas not draining the checking account requires more deliberate discipline.

[tbrownaw]

GP's family being in a 38% "minority" hardly makes them unique.

[kiiski]

That 62 % was "people with no emergency savings", not "people without enough savings to retire". The latter number would be somewhere above 62 %.