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These Are The Top Financial Concerns Of Ordinary Americans
While institutional investors and money managers have a very specific list of worries when it comes to their "financial concerns" such as Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO), monthly/quarterly performance and redemption requests, losing top traders, what the year end bonus will be, order fill slippage, being frontrun by HFT algos, what the Fed chairwoman may say any given day, whether it is 3:30pm or if it is a Tuesday, ordinary Americans have a far simpler list of concerns. According to a recent Gallup poll, the one thing that has most Americans very/moderately worried is "whether or not they have enough money for retirement."
The list of the top concerns is presented below:
In a country in which the economy is barely sputtering, and where all the benefits from 5+ years of QE have accrued exclusively to the top 1% of wealthy, that nearly two-thirds of society is concerned about its retirement prospects will hardly come as a surprise.
Going down the list, the next highest concern, not being able to pay medical costs in the event of a serious illness or accident, worries 53% of Americans. This is down from a record high of 62% in 2012.
Third on the list of Americans' top financial worries is not being able to maintain the standard of living they enjoy, with nearly half of the country's adults citing this concern. Together, retirement savings, unexpected medical costs, and maintaining one's standard of living typically top the list of the eight financial items that Gallup has tracked annually since 2001. Concerns about all three are down modestly from two years ago, but are still higher than they were before the Great Recession.
The good news is that according to the latest poll, all of the top three concerns are well below expressed levels at any time since the collapse of Lehman. Still, with the stock market at all time highs, one would expect that people who are "very" concerned about any of these three prospects would be at a record low. Alas, it is nowhere near such levels.
Going down the list, from Gallup:
Notably, four in 10 American adults say they are very or moderately worried about not having enough money to pay off their debt. This is the first time Gallup has included this financial issue. With as much as $1 trillion in outstanding student loan debt circulating in the U.S. today -- not to mention other prevalent types of debt such as credit cards -- debt concerns are clearly weighing on a significant proportion of the country.
Of the nine concerns tested, the bottom two concerns -- not being able to pay one's rent or mortgage, and not being able to make minimum payments on credit card bills -- are those most likely to indicate immediate insolvency. This finding suggests that most common financial problems are related more to savings and future expenditures than day-to-day living.
As also would be expected, different age groups have different concerns. The top problem for the broadly defined group of middle-aged Americans -- those aged 30 to 64 -- is not having enough money for retirement, in line with previous findings. For this group, about seven in 10 worry about not having enough money for retirement.
Young Americans aged 18 to 29 worry most about paying medical costs in the event of a serious illness or accident (52%), perhaps a result of the comparatively high uninsured rate for younger Americans or the lack of savings typically characterizing that age group. An equal share of 18- to 29-year-olds (52%) say they are worried about being able to maintain their standard of living. And nearly half of 18- to 29-year-olds worry about being able to pay off debt, perhaps a consequence of the massive amount of student loan debt that many young adults carry. Possibly befitting their youth and their longer distance in years from retirement, this group is least concerned about having enough money when they retire compared with other age groups -- despite dire predictions about the future of Medicare and Social Security.
Older Americans, those aged 65 or older, also worry most about being able to pay medical costs in the event of a serious illness or accident, though few in this age group lack health insurance. However, given the formidable cost of protracted, continual medical care that often characterizes older Americans' later years, many senior citizens may feel their health insurance alone cannot handle such a financial burden. Generally speaking, though, senior citizens are much less concerned about most of these financial problems than are their younger counterparts. The majority of older Americans appear to have retirement financing under control; 37% worry about having enough money in their retirement, by far the lowest percentage of any age group. Senior citizens are least concerned about not having enough money to pay for their children's college education (8%) -- presumably because older Americans already faced that challenge.
Curiously, for Americans across all age groups, the ability to make minimum payments on credit card bills does not generate much concern. Perhaps because as they have seen their host nation do time and again, when one gets that third overdue bill, one can simply roll over the amount due to a different credit card company, or simpler yet, default. After all it is only a matter of time before such activity is fully endorsed by Obama's "fairness doctrine."
Gallup's conclusion:
Retirement may be a time that many working adults look forward to, but it is paradoxically a source of stress in the here and now. A strong majority of Americans, particularly those aged 30 to 64, worry about having enough money for retirement, and this concern has regularly topped the list of Americans' top financial problems. The only other personal financial concern that a majority of Americans are very or moderately worried about is the ability to pay medical costs in the event of a serious accident or illness.
For a country that now has a life expectancy at birth of 78.7 years, retirement savings for post-work years is considered a matter of national importance. These concerns led President Barack Obama to propose a retirement savings account for working adults -- MyRA -- during this year's State of the Union address. It remains to be seen whether this new type of savings plan, which will be available in late 2014, will ultimately alleviate some Americans' concerns about retirement.
The answer, of course, is no and as with any other such "no risk, guaranteed return" instrument the outcome will be a disaster of epic proportions. But we'll cross that bridge when central-planning takes us to it. In the meantime, just BTFD, or alternatively, BTFATH, and hope for the best. After all, in a market as rigged and manipulated as this one, hope (and prayer) is without doubt the best, and probably only, strategy.
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So then, nothing else to worry about.
Time for a little quiz...please answer with the best possible answer:
I'm moving to ______________ where the currency is solid and secure and the government is not corrupt.
Mars
I gave you the up arrow but then realized, we already have machinery up there. You know...the NSA is there.
http://www.space.com/25530-earthsize-exoplanet-kepler-186f-habitable-dis...
Kepler-186f
Galts Gulch
Croatan. They can't find you there.
Gone to Croatan.
http://coastalguide.com/packet/lostcolony-croatan.shtml
Or maybe Valhalla if I fight hard enough.
You are free, now do as you're told.
You are free, now do as you're told.
You must register your income with the IRS.
You must register your house with the state.
You must register your car with the DMV.
You must register your body with Obamacare.
You must register your mind if you want to go to school.
You must register your urine if you want to work.
Sacrifice. Sacrifice. Sacrifice.
Look at what they make us give .
You start down this path, where does it end?
when that NSA agent finally gets his head up your ass
My SNAP card will run dry ......
How about freedom? If you are rich and living under totalitarian rule what the hell good is it?
Spend less, save more and worry less.
"Are there no prisons?" "And the workhouses - are they still in operation?" "I help support the establishments I have named; those who are badly off must go there."
At least today we have Walmart greeters... we've come a long way...
God but the "drugs" this Nation is comatose on are amazing?!!!...
They need to have a second set of charts with a breakout for white collar workers vs. blue collar workers to demonstrate that both groups in this Country are virtually one in the same when it comes to their priorities!
For a couple of guys I knew, 'retirement' was self-induced. One of them decided to call it a day with a .22LR behind the ear. No mess to clean up (this was apparently a concern for him). The other just drank himself to death. In the future, I fear the "calling it a day" method may be state-induced.
Run, Logan, run!!!
I worry my eyesight will go before my ammo runs out.
If only 60% are worried about having money to retire, doesn't that imply that about 39% are oblivious?
Gov't union or non union gov't employees wouldn't be worried.
So did we bail out the .00000000001 percent...or even worse "a money losing trading strategy that was in fact antithetical to the existence of humanity"?
I mean you can take the richest people in the world and give them all the money...bit it still doesn't add up to a TRILLION dollars.
I mean those people can be bought for probably just a billion or two.
Hmmm.
Feeee(s)....f(L)iiiiii's.....foes...from(age)...something stinks here and it ain't just the lyin' BS.
Anywho...forget "the pain trade"...it's time for the purge after the splurge bitchez.
Everybody is looking at it wrong. We all have enough money. The problem is that prices are too high. Prices across the board need to drop 50-75% or more before our economy will ever recover.
Good luck waiting for that.
me thinks you understand not where "prices" come from
I'm concerned I won't be able to afford Bieber tickets.
Gee America, you don't think any of this could kinda sorta be by design, huh? Dumb fucks. Gotta rush out and genuflect before the boss man and tamely submit to my cubicle existence for my benefits. OH GOD MY FUCKING BENEFITS - where am I without my benefits that the man, in his infinite wisdom and generosity, has seen to graciously bestow upon me for a 50% contribution and $60K a year. Yeah get some. Sink your teeth into Americana. Lever up, get indebted, cower before the IRS and the functionally retarded cop with the 90 IQ. Keep being subservient because you answer to the government, not the other way around, right?
Oddly, the same people who worry about being able to pay their bills are the same ones who want the government to keep spending us into bankruptcy. Granted, they think that there is some benefit to being spent into bankruptcy (they think that they will benefit from some other poor schmuck's bankruptcy), or that "stimulus" is something other than a load of BS. The fact is that the only hope for our economy is not politically feasible.
Where was this poll taken, the Hamptons? What about money for food?
Epidemic Of Hunger: New Report Says 49 Million Americans Are Dealing With Food Insecurity
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/epidemic-of-hunger-new-report-says-49-million-americans-are-dealing-with-food-insecurityYou can live very well on food stamps:
http://ynsa.weebly.com/
If only we could pair them up with the 70 million obese Americans, some kind of buddy system. They would both benefit from the synergy.
Not having enough government help ........... 70%
Having too much government intervention ... 70%
Adding up all the above worries ... 99% of the people are worried; which makes sense since only 1% hold the purse
stacking your bills every month in the order that you want things shut off...
My biggest worry is that I might have to start drinking domestic beer.
Amen to that!
I drink pure grain alcohol and rain water, Mandrake.
that is a frightening prospect... unless it is Dundee Honey Brown or a microbrew... tough times call for tough decisions on where to make cuts!
I believe millions are wondering how to fund their next tank of gas or their next bag of nose candy.
This is a bogus poll, no mention of beer or whiskey
It is passing absurd for the elite to suggest new strategies to assist Americans in saving for retirement. The concept of savings is anathema to our true rulers (the banksters). What these gents want is for all Americans to be in debt up to their eyeballs, to purchased goods they don't need, and to swallow wholesale their hype: they aren't the .01%, they're the job creators (even though many got rich specifically by adding to the unemployment rolls), resource wars are good for the economy, and that trying to rein in their worst abuses could cause financial Armeggedon.
We should celebrate the fact that American's are wising up. Being concerned that you may not have sufficient savings to retire and could face bankruptcy due to a medical expense are signs of our awakening from the myth of American Exceptionalism. Good morning. Is that coffee I smell?
Being originally from Germany, living in the U.S. now, it seems to me that one has to intentially try NOT to make money here..this is the greatest money making machine on the planet. A carreer as an electrical engineer, and 2.5 businesses on the side and off the books. The most obviouse affliction americans face it seems to me, is the 153 hours of teevee they watch every month. And then nearly as much time posting what they watch on social media. I'm flumoxed how they possibly think they would improve their lot.
Think of it this way: If Bill Gates was stripped of his wealth, and left naked on a street corner, how much time do you suppose he would invest in teevee? Or social media? Or if ones doctor gave them 7 days to live, how much of THAT time would you spend on them?
But I digress..I suppose if this country wasn't filled with the unenlightened, it may not be as easy to have a wonderful life, and promising future. God bless the dim surfs over here..
I think the TV is just as much a symptom as a cause. Now I'm not one to stand in defense of Americans. I find them coarse, unrefined, gullible, given to mythological beliefs and generally stupid, apathetic fucks. In general though, the average dipshit was fed a line of nonsense about how much his personal security and that of his family depended on .gov as a result of "the evil doers" trying to fly jetliners into their high rises. Somewhere along the way, as is usually the case, that objective (if it was indeed ever the real objection and I doubt it was) was hijacked and turned into something far more sinister.
By in large, MOST Americans I encounter today are fairly angry about something. Not all, but a growing number of them. There is a genetic component to take into consideration as well. There's a fair amount of slack jawed yokel inbreeding that goes on round these parts. Those dipshits posting pictures of lifted trucks and NASCAR on social media are deficient at a genetic level. They are worthless bags of flesh and bone and as far as I can tell serve no greater purpose on this planet other than to break their backs doing the most menial work imaginable.
Americans are quickly coming to the conclusion that the state security apparatus is no longer there for their "protection" but rather to keep them compliant and obedient. They know they poke their heads up now and they're likely to get them shot off. We stand around waiting for a hero to emerge but he/she never does. They fall into the Lazy Boy instead and let fantasies of CIA operatives and dragons and wizards capture their attention. Without the teevee, a good many of them would probaby drink bleach. The American people KNOW it went too far. There is no getting out of this mess now. They realize now the consequences of letting their government run amok. Fuck 'em. Some of us have been warning them for the last 20 years to no avail. Better to take in some DWTS or the Bachelorette and pretend it isn't happening because after all, with just a few crumbs from the beneficent state, they can eek out an increasingly miserable existence, but at least they still have Duck Dynasty.
Don't sugar coat it, now. Tell 'em what you really think....
Fuck you
Behold your average "articulate" American high school dropout. Dreams of working a NASCAR pit....
QUITE PLEASE, DWTS is on right now and I can't hear the score.
I do agree. HOWEVER, the playing field is a little tougher with over population, over taxation and over regulation. But, there are opportunities just hard to uncover. Having said that, I also agree with the Bill Gates thing.
You can stick one man in the middle of the jungle and he will die within a week. You can stick another man in the jungle and he will become a God and have the natives carrying his ass around while he rapes and pillages and eats grapes.
Heaven forbid we take a splinter of personal responsibility.
The new US reality:
1. Work till you can't anymore.
2. Live on what you have left till you can't.
3. Kill yourself.
And notice I didn't say 'possible' new reality. If you see the number of people with no retirement and a bk gov't it's already baked in.
Granted most people won't kill themselves they'll just drag down everyone else.
It's fkn over.
Rent will be at 40% by 2016.
Then shit gets REAL fun.
Thats not taxation, thats the pimp's cut.
“I still think there are a lot of people out there who really don’t understand why we did what we did,”
Q: Who said that?
We're broke and live in a police state.
We're at DEFCON 3 with our .gov overlords.
The New York City Skyscraper People are looting everybody, especially those stupid enough to take part in the casino, and laughing at us because we lack the funds to fight them through they very system that protects them.
I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
It's either that or change our priorities about what's important to us, but it's going to take a rough trip to Meat Grinder, AZ before that happens.
Not living long enough to see the financial terrorists die a fiery death.
I worry that worry will bring about an early departure from the beauty that is life.
and, as stated previoulsy, I'm a man of means by no means..
the american, fucking, dream, is a con-job.
first clue: YOU DON'T OWN THE MONEY YOU THINK YOU HAVE.
Thank goodness I never had faith to lose..
I've reworked the list a little...
1. Not getting free shit from Barack / Hillary / Future Democraps
2. Having to work for a living
3. Having to save to buy something
4. Paying for the privledge of borrowing
5. No more free government spending money
Retirement?
Is that when then BLM/FaBeeEye+++ are doing fire and manovour on me after the deer rifle/Senator/FedGov/whatever thing?
hahaha, you go the headline wrong here. retirement is long gone, the headline is 1 out of 3 basically unable to pay rent or mortgage.
Retirement? What the hell is that?
If not already, I expect many folks that couldn't afford to save enough or anything at all for retirement will be going for every .gov handout possible when they reach their latter years.
For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
Everything is Impermanent --- Shakyamuni Buddha
"Fuck em if they can't take a joke"
-J.R. "Bob" Dobbs
The old dog for the hard road and leave the pup on the path.
Unremitting rectal itch has to be up there.
Ordinary Americans have financial concerns? Watching the mainstream news media, one might get the impression that ordinary Americans are mainly obsessed with race and ethnicity?
I didn't even know that the L.A. Clippers even existed anymore or that anyone even cared about the NBA anymore. Then later on in the day as I was driving, I heard some pundit on the radio suggest that fans need to boycot and not go to the games. That's fine with me because I have never even been to an NBA game and have no intention to ever attend one of those rip off fests for any reason. Or for that matter, I have no intention of ever attending any other professional "BUILD US A NEW STADIUM AGAIN" operation ever again in my life.
That's not a race problem. That's a revenue problem.
Go to a high school or JC game. You can sit close to the court for cheap so the refs won't miss a word of your commentary on their performance. I vaguely recall drunkenly saying a bunch of racist shit to the star player of the enemy team once back in the day and we won and I only mildly had my ass kicked by the opposing cheer leading squad after the game. Thank god the refs, coaches, and players all thought the ragging was from a guy wearing a Lynrd Skynrd shirt or it could've gotten ugly.
That word "retirement" you keep using...I do not think it means what you think it means...
SuddenDebt, my husband and I are the opposite of you in a way. We both got where we are (such as it is) without any bullshit or faking at all; none whatsover. And so I can tell you that you are misinterpreting your interactions with people, if you think you are fooling them with your BS. Here's the deal: at least in the U.S. (I wouldn't know re Europe, where you are), people often feel a sort of Nietzschean noblesse oblige towards the BSers. As long as they don't feel the BSer is actually truly ripping them off, and isn't a psychopath, they are willing to go along. Even so far as to invest. I would imagine that you are generally sized up by people who assess you pretty well, and decide that you will do for their purposes.
If I had a nickel for each time I've let someone who was not so smart think they were convincing me of something they actually weren't . . . LOL.
But - you are doing your kids no service. They will not be able to follow effectively in your footsteps, it is clear from what you have written. They would be better off being raised to be honest, straighforward and decent - and then some non-BSer would marry them.
The approach you have taken, is what you end up with in an atheistic land like Europe. You got so many downvotes because ZHers (me included) still value traditional religious things like honesty, thrift, charity, and on and on. You don't have those ideals any more; you are left with being a BSer who rarely actually fools anyone.
So Ukraine is off the table now?
debka.com say's that PUTIN has called Obama's bluff, and that the USA will never send the required assets to secure Steal Palestine, I mean 'Steal ukraine".
The call has already been made to NULAND and Yakky
that its time to go back to Tel-Aviv, and hatch a new plan.
Of course its all Obama's fault, cuz he doesn't have the balls, ... so in effect Obama get's to pass a new agenda for McCain to use that "Obama went soft, and passed Ukraine to Russia".
>>>
American's only care about Bieber ( small camel toe ) and Kardashian ( large camel toe), over 70% of american's can't even SPELL "Financial", nor know what it means who in the fuck did this survey?
As an American, please take a hammer to your TV.
debka sucks balls.
Still more in the World of Shit of contemporary Economic asshattery.
Don't miss tonight's Special Podcast, an Interview with Steve Ludlum of Economic Undertow.
RE
My top concern (fear) is that many/most of my immediate idiot neighbors don't have enough to retire... and view me as a plattered, roasted turkey with all the trimmings.
I worry about trees with branches strong enough to carry all the current Occupants of this nation
Retirement comes when I cannot work any longer or cannot make
Enough money to survive. When that happens, it is time to do myself.
Retirement can only be planned with a proper currency backed by assets.
Not currencies issyed by the Central banks now. Their debasement is akin to murder.
The generation that is now beginning to retire seems to have leverage its size into favorable policy that it will enjoy in later life. Governments slashed tax rates in the 1980s to revitalize their lagging economies just as boomers approached their prime earning years. The average federal tax rate for a median American household, including income and payroll taxes, dropped from more than 18% in 1981 to just over 11% in 2011.
This means less revenue for the generous benefits boomers have continued to vote themselves, programs like a prescription-drug benefit paired with inadequate premiums have caused deficits to explode. An American born in 1945 can expect nearly $2.2m in lifetime net transfers from the "state" far more than they pay in, and far more than any previous group. The article below delves into who will be asked to pay the bill for all these benefits.
http://brucewilds.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-young-will-be-burdened.html
I'm concerned I cant vote him in for a third term[sarc]
How about government tyranny?