I've seen many articles like that, and they conveniently never show the actual question that was asked. If I had an unexpected expense I'd probably put it on my credit card just for convenience, and then pay it off at the end of the billing cycle incurring no additional fees. But it would be silly to include me in the category of not being able to afford it.

In reality, even most people in the bottom 20% of income have more than $500 in savings: https://www.valuepenguin.com/banking/average-savings-account...