Most financial advisors recommend storing three to six months of expenses in liquid assets in case of an emergency. Yet we estimate that more than half of U.S. families do not have at least three months of their non-discretionary expenses in liquid savings. We find that financial literacy is strongly predictive of having three months of liquid savings, controlling for income, income variability, and even parental resources. We also find that financial literacy predicts liquid savings across the income distribution. These results indicate that accumulation of an emergency fund is not simply a function of income. Finally, financial literacy is predictive of liquid savings even among high illiquid wealth households. This suggests that the phenomenon of “wealthy hand-to-mouth” families may reflect financial mistakes rather than portfolio optimization. Our paper highlights the importance of financial knowledge in explaining families’ preparedness to deal with unexpected expenses or disruption in their income.

大多数财务顾问建议将三到六个月的费用存储在流动资产中，以备不时之需。然而，我们估计超过一半的美国家庭没有至少三个月的流动性储蓄非可支配支出。我们发现，金融素养对拥有三个月的流动性储蓄、控制收入、收入可变性，甚至父母资源有很强的预测作用。我们还发现，金融知识可以预测收入分配中的流动性储蓄。这些结果表明，应急基金的积累不仅仅是收入的函数。最后，即使在高流动性非流动性财富家庭中，金融知识也能预测流动性储蓄。这表明，“衣食无忧”的家庭现象可能反映了财务错误，而不是投资组合优化。