The following report is from Study Finds:
In these tough financial times, a new study finds it’s getting harder and harder for people to save any of their money. In fact, seven in 10 Americans say they’re living paycheck to paycheck.
A recent survey of 2,007 adults found that 63 percent don’t see themselves reaching a level of financial security that will allow them to live the lifestyle they want.
Lack of financial education and resources may be to blame, particularly for women, who were less likely to say they had access to these tools in comparison to men (65% vs. 84%).
What Does Financial Comfort Really Look Like?
To educate themselves en route to financial comfort, most turn to social media (45%), their family (44%), or online media such as financial news websites (42%).
Conducted on November 22, 2021 by OnePoll on behalf of AmeriLife, the survey also explored the necessities for financial peace of mind among different groups.
While most women noted an absence of credit card debt (59%) as the most important requirement for financial comfort, the majority of men think it’s homeownership (58%).
Saving Is Key To Financial Stability
Respondents also differed in what they consider to be essential for financial wellness. Seventy-nine percent of Americans earning over $150,000 found a savings account to be “very” important, compared to just 54 percent of those with an income of $60,000 to $89,999.
On average, respondents feel they’d need $686 of disposable income per month to feel financially comfortable.
When it comes to retirement, the average American plans to start thinking about it at age 40. However, seven in 10 confess their understanding of personal financial comfort kept changing after they reached adulthood.
Things don’t always go according to plan; no matter your income, having a budget is key. If possible, a person should have six months of expenses readily available in savings. Once they achieve this, they can then target 30 percent of their income for things they want, and the remaining 20 percent for their savings. The earlier a person can do this, the further it will take them towards a comfortable retirement.
Says Denny Southern, president of annuities and retirement planning for AmeriLife, in a statement.
Overcoming Financial Hurdles
Seventy-six percent of millennials are likely to say that at some point in their adult life, a personal healthcare-related bill caused them to spend a large chunk of their savings. They also noted that keeping up with healthcare-related bills has derailed them from making other payments (70%), more so than any other age group.
For most of the millennial respondents, that sacrifice came in the form of a down payment or mortgage on a home (57% and 56%).
Regardless of age, the vast majority of Americans (82%) believe that financial comfort is important to their mental and emotional well-being.
It’s important to know how to offset costs of both planned and unforeseen events. It’s not surprising to note, however and unfortunately, that only three in 10 respondents use financial advisors as a resource to educate themselves to attain financial comfort.
Adds Frank Tebyani, president of career agency distribution for AmeriLife.
Essentials For Financial Comfort:
- No credit card debt (57%)
- Good credit score (54%)
- Homeownership (53%)
- Residual/ancillary income (52%)
- Savings account/rainy day fund (52%)
- Being able to retire (51%)
AUTHOR COMMENTARY
The rich man’s wealth is his strong city: the destruction of the poor is their poverty.
Proverbs 10:15
Many people in the comment section of this report on Study Finds were taking Biden’s head off, and cheering for Trump. This just further shows just how much the conservative outlets have brain-washed so many of the masses, into believing that Trump got the economy rolling and booming.
The WinePress has debunked this narrative from the day The WP started, and how Trump completely lied and downplayed the economy. The best example of this was shown in WP report titled “The Quickest Way To Know The Economy Is Broken Beyond Repair.” This report showed very basic metrics that NO ONE in the media will ever tell, proving that the economy was out of control and crashing more and more under Trump, and then passing the torch to Biden.
Moreover, I have noted before that in 2019 – the so-called “good times” – the average American could barely scrape together a $400 savings account coupled with mile-high debt that will never get paid off.
Almost 40% of American adults wouldn’t be able to cover a $400 emergency with cash, savings or a credit-card charge that they could quickly pay off, a Federal Reserve survey finds.
About 27% of those surveyed would need to borrow the money or sell something to come up with the $400 and an additional 12% would not be able to cover it at all, according to the Federal Reserve’s 2018 report on the economic well-being of U.S. households released on Thursday.
In addition, 12% of adults said they wouldn’t be able to pay their current monthly bills if faced with the unexpected $400 expense, the survey found.
Overall, the number of people who said they are able to handle unexpected expenses is on the rise since the Federal Reserve began the survey in 2013.
However, 17% of adults in the U.S. said they are not able to fully pay off all of their current month’s bills.
One in five adults had major, unexpected medical bills to pay last year, and one in four skipped necessary medical care in 2018 because they couldn’t afford it, the survey revealed
ABC News reported in May of 2019. See more of this on CNBC and The Motley Fool
I could keep going and going, but I have exposed that “booming economy” narrative for so long now, I am not going to repeat myself.
Case in point, the American consumer is utterly broke and will not be getting out of it. And yet, today, many Americans will be gambling and wasting money on the Stupor Bowl…
[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).
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Many Americans have been living paycheck to paycheck for a long time, way before this pandemic. Now, it is becoming more noticeable.
Absolutely. The stimmies in 2020 and early 2021 clouded that reality for the ignorant masses.