There's one thing the record 35-day government shutdown made clear: Americans aren't saving for a rainy day.
"The partial government shutdown serves as a wake-up call that emergency savings must be made a more serious priority," said Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate.com.
Over three-quarters of all full-time workers are living paycheck to paycheck, according to a report from jobs site CareerBuilder. Just 40 percent of Americans are able to cover an unexpected $1,000 expense with their savings, according to a separate survey from personal finance website Bankrate.
"Too many are failing to expect the unexpected — that either significant expenses, or an interruption in income, will occur at some point," Hamrick said.