Suze Orman: Financial Danger Has Shifted to Employed Workers

Suze Orman, co-founder of SecureSave, said financial risk has shifted to workers who have steady paychecks but still aren't making ends meet. "We have danger more than we've had before, because it's the workers that we know have a job, they have a paycheck coming in, and they are still not making it," she told CNBC.
Sixty-three percent of adults said they could cover a hypothetical $400 emergency expense using cash or its equivalent, roughly unchanged in recent years and down from 68% in 2021, according to the Federal Reserve. Credit card balances rose $21 billion in the second quarter to $1.26 trillion, nearing the record $1.28 trillion set late last year, per the New York Fed, which described the pattern as a "K-shaped economy."
A SecureSave survey of 1,028 workers ages 18-65 found 55% cannot cover an unexpected $500 expense from savings, and 41% skipped a necessary expense such as medical care, food, or a car repair in the past six months due to lack of savings.
Working households are increasingly tapping retirement accounts instead: 6% of 401(k) participants took a hardship withdrawal in 2025, up from 5% and the highest share on record, according to Vanguard. Workers earning under $100,000 were about 3.5 times more likely to take one, roughly 70% of those lower-income withdrawals went toward eviction, foreclosure, or medical bills, and the median withdrawal was $1,900. Meanwhile, average balances in SecureSave's employer-sponsored accounts rose nearly 12% year-over-year, from $829 in June 2025 to $926 in June 2026.
Shai Akabas, vice president of economic policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, said "leakage from retirement accounts is becoming a bigger and bigger problem," pointing to workplace emergency savings tools as a primary fix. SecureSave found 67% of workers said a $200 annual employer contribution to such an account would reduce financial stress, and 59% said it would make them likelier to stay at their job.