Coping with Costs: Big Data on Expense Volatility and Medical Payments builds on anonymized account data of roughly 250,000 core 追逐 checking account customers from January 2013 to December 2015. It is the third in a series of 研究所 reports evaluating household finances, 包括其首份报告, Weathering Volatility: Big Data on the Financial Ups and Downs of US Individuals 其关于收入波动的报告， Paychecks, Paydays and the Online Platform Economy: Big Data on Income Volatility.

“This could be the most granular look at families’ financial volatility we have ever seen,戴安娜·法雷尔说, 总裁兼首席执行官, 12bet官方研究所. “Even with more money in their pocket from tax refunds, the strain of major and unexpected medical costs are hitting families hard and making it difficult for them to recover.”

Following are the key findings for this most recent look at the state of expense volatility for US households:

• Finding One: Expenses fluctuate by nearly $1,300 or 29% on a month-to-month basis for median-income households, or $7,391年同比.
  • Discretionary 费用 are more volatile than non-discretionary 费用 in percentage terms. Month-to-month discretionary 费用 fluctuate by 56 percent or $514 while non-discretionary 费用 fluctuate by 28 percent or $735.
• Finding Two: Expense volatility was high across the income and age spectrum. While older families typically had less volatile incomes, they exhibited a larger range of income and expense volatility.
  • 年龄较大的家庭保持类似, 如果不是更高, levels of expense volatility even after significant decreases in income volatility after age 60.
• Finding Three: Almost four in ten families per year—particularly middle-income and older families—made an extraordinary payment over $1,500个与医疗服务有关, 汽车修理, 或税收.
  • One in six families (16%) made at least one major medical payment in a given year, 其中3%的人成功了两次或两次以上.
  • Older Americans had the highest incidence of extraordinary payments across all three types. Forty-four percent of families 65 and older made at least one extraordinary payment compared to that of 22 percent of adults under 25.
• Finding Four: Extraordinary medical payments were more likely to occur in months with higher income and specifically during tax season.
  • Extraordinary medical payments were most common in March and April and coincided with a 4 percent increase in total income increases. The income increase stemmed mostly from tax refunds and not labor income.
• Finding Five: Prior to a major medical payment, families garnered significant liquid 资产 but did not recover financially within 12 months after the payment.
  • Families acquired over $900 more in liquid 资产 before a major medical payment; this represented a 5 percent increase.
  • The increase in liquid 资产 is more pronounced for families in the bottom percentile of liquid 资产 indicating they face a stronger liquidity constraint.
  • Fifty-three percent of families increased their liquid 资产 one month prior to the medical payment, many of whom immediately spent them down in the month with a medical payment.
  • Many families did not recover financially within a year after a major medical payment. 在总, comparing 12 months after the medical payment to the baseline period, 收入下降了3%, 非医疗费用下降了1%, 流动资产下降了2%, 而循环余额则高出9%.

“我们的集成, 收入高频数据, 费用, 资产, and liabilities shed new light on the connection between physical health and financial health and the reality that families are not fully insured against the economic consequences of major health events,法雷尔补充道. “This indicates a need for better products and solutions to help families manage expense volatility and become more financially resilient.”

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