Everyone knows it’s important to save for a “rainy day.” Emergencies happen: appliances break, cars sputter to a stop, jobs are lost. But when your paychecks are not that much more than what you need to pay your routine bills, that’s a habit most haven’t been able to form.

America is in the midst of a savings crisis. Approximately one of every two American households are considered “financially fragile,” according to the Federal Reserve Bank, whose 2016 study found that 47 percent of respondents to a national survey could not cover an unexpected $400 expense without going into debt.