Editor's note: This article appeared in the December 22, 2009, edition of Quirk's e-newsletter.

Half of all U.S. consumers would struggle to meet an unexpected financial crisis like sudden car or home repairs or minor health-related expenditures, but that doesn't mean they're ready to go back to their credit-happy ways. In fact, while many Americans young and old, rich and poor are ill-prepared to deal with a costly emergency, they're more like to tap into savings or call on favors than turn to running up debt, according to the TNS Personal Risk Assessment and Risk Literacy Survey, a study developed by Horsham, Pa., research company TNS in association with professors from Harvard Business School, Boston, and Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H, which included respondents across 13 countries.

While credit cards are ubiquitous, households don't expect to turn first to credit for emergencies. Instead, 49 percent of Americans would look to savings accounts first to fund an emergency; 27 percent said they would likely turn to their families for help; and 21 percent would try to work overtime or get a second job. Twenty percent would look to credit cards to tide them over in emergency, and 18 percent are prepared to sell their belongings (not home).

To measure capacity for risk bearing, the survey probed if consumers could come up with enough money for a major car repair in a month. Forty-six percent of U.S. consumers were unlikely to be able to find the funds. Younger people had the most difficulties, with 55 percent of 16-24-year-olds and 34 percent of 55-64-year-olds unable to fund emergencies. Financial fragility directly correlates with salary levels, however 24 percent of those earning $100,000-149,999 would still be unable to find funds.

"These figures include more than just the unemployed or lowest-income households. There is widespread financial fragility with a significant number of seemingly middle-class consumers extremely vulnerable to sudden financial emergencies," says Peter Tufano of Harvard.

After a financial crisis where risk was such an enormous factor, it is important to know if consumers have any real understanding of the basic principles of financial risk, and most Americans don't. TNS asked consumers to assess: the relative payout of two lotteries; the relative risk and returns from two investment funds; and the relative risk of investing in a single versus a basket of stocks.

Respondent scores were higher in the U.S. than many country results but still very poor. Only 19 percent of men and 11 percent of women surveyed managed to answer all questions correctly (15 percent in the aggregate). The ability to answer these questions is related to general education, with only 8 percent of high-school graduates able to answer all questions correctly. However, even the highly educated didn't fare well, with only 20 percent of those with a college degree and 30 percent with post-graduate degree able to answer the three questions correctly.

The older population - where people are more likely to be actively invested - also struggled with risk concepts. Only 12 percent of 35-64-year-olds for all countries surveyed were able to answer the questions, compared with 33 percent of the under-35s.