There's something Peter Tafana wants to know about you.

If you had to, could you come up with $2,000 in 30 days?

That's the question he asked a whole bunch of people in 13 countries, including the US.

Why $2,000?

Because an auto transmission is about 1,500.

Most estimates of what everyday emergencies are about are in that order of magnitude.

If you were to have a sick or ailing relative on the other side of the country and you had

to buy full price plain tickets, it could easily be that amount.

And then why this language come up with, as opposed to safe, because what we wanted to

see if people had access to resources between savings and credit and friends and family.

And about half of Americans are not able to come up with $2,000 in 30 days, which means

that they stand only one emergency or crisis away from really quite dire circumstances.

This isn't picked up in the National Economic Statistics.

This is picked up at a much more local level, at a much more intimate level at what happens

inside families.

It's this lack of savings as it were that motivates me.

Tafano is all about the motivation.

He's a professor at Harvard Business School.

One of his specialties is consumer finance.

He wants to know how many checks you write and for what?

How much you borrow and why and what you spend on beer, on toys, or on lottery tickets.

A couple of singles just lying in my pocket.

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