US families still vulnerable to financial difficulty after recession

Washington

FIVE years after the recession ended, many Americans still teeter on the financial brink, barely prepared to handle an emergency expense and ageing towards retirements they haven't saved for, a Federal Reserve report shows.

About 47 per cent of 5,896 respondents in the Fed's 2014 household survey, taken last October and November, wouldn't be able to cover an emergency US$400 expense without selling something or borrowing money. While that marks an improvement from 52 per cent last year, the report states that it shows many Americans to be "ill-prepared for a financial disruption".