> Many of those people living paycheck to paycheck have a budget where they're saving or investing a significant amount of their money
I don't think that's the common understanding of what "living paycheck to paycheck" means.
I don't think that's the common understanding of what "living paycheck to paycheck" means.
It's usually just the inverse of saying most people don't have ready cash savings laying around; because there's no need to when you have credit every which way all the time.
Much better to look at the debt load on people and how that changes over time. Someone who makes $5k a month and spends $3k on debt service and lives off $2k is going to feel much different from someone who makes the same $5k, lives on $2k, and spends $3k on candles or whatever (since they can stop buying candles anytime but you can't easily stop paying down debt).
Clearly you're not in that situation, and likely have never been anywhere near it with that privileged view of the world.
Many people in the States are living on the edge; i.e. paycheck to paycheck, not, "oh, well, I'll just dip into my equities if the need arises".
This is quite a precarious situation to me. People should not need nor be encouraged to rely on debt to live life, especially month to month.
The default mode should be working people make enough to, if budgeted moderately well, can pay for everything plus save money away post tax[0]
Anything less and you’re only growing systemic issues over time
[0]: including tax exempt savings like 401Ks is ill-reflective of people’s ability to save money aside for emergencies and unexpected costs