56% of Americans can’t afford a $1,000 emergency expense: We are ‘living in a paycheck-to-paycheck nation,’ money expert says

A majority of Americans say they can’t afford a $1,000 emergency expense, a recent report from Bankrate finds.

Only 44% of Americans surveyed said they could use their savings to pay for an unexpected expense, instead opting to put it on a credit card or borrow cash from family or friends.

“The reality is that we are, unfortunately, essentially living in a paycheck-to-paycheck nation,” Bankrate senior economic analyst Mark Hamrick tells CNBC Make It. “We’re a consumer-based society where people are implored on a constant basis to spend their money, and...