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by chailatte
5501 days ago
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Most Americans have their assets stuck in their house and 401k and other toys. House: It would take you 6 months to sell a house (good luck with all those foreclosures out there), 3 months to get a loan against your house (hard to get a loan these days). 401k: It would take you 1 month to withdraw from your 401k (if your 401k plan allows it). Car/TV: There's an abundance of car/TV inventory out there, and it might take 2-3 months to move those. Relatives: if half of Americans don't have $2000 for rainy day funds, chances are you're not gonna have much luck asking your relatives. So realistically, if you needed $2000 tomorrow to bail out your family member (or $40k for that surgery tomorrow), it wold be very hard. |
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Also, most Brokers will allow you to borrow against the value of your IRA, or your 401k with very short notice. If you have a house and a mortgage you probably also qualify for an unsecured line of credit and could get a cash advance immediately.
The surgery example is a non sequitur because hospitals have very liberal payment terms and are willing to negotiate costs down significantly for people with financial hardships.