ST. LOUIS–Ten months after many Americans made New Year’s resolutions for 2023 related to their finances, “many Americans are looking back on the year and seeing an ugly picture,” according to a new survey.
The survey, conducted by Clever Real Estate, found approximately 39% say they've gone deeper into debt this year, while 45% say they make enough money to live comfortably.
“Apart from cutting spending, many Americans have failed to achieve their financial goals in 2023,” Clever reported. “Just 28% of those who wanted to buy a home this year actually did so, and just 25% of those who wanted to find a higher-paying job found one.”
Key Findings
Among the key findings in the survey, according to Clever:
- Americans' most common financial goals for 2023 were spending less money (50%), sticking to a budget (42%), and building emergency savings (38%).
- 18%, however, have not achieved any financial goals in 2023.
- 39% of Americans have gone deeper into debt in 2023, with 35% believing they'll be in debt for the rest of their lives.
- 51% of Americans would run out of money within one month if they lost their income.
- 47% say they tend to spend more money than they earn, including 55% of Gen Z and 56% of Millennials.
- 49% say they have dipped into their retirement savings or emergency savings in 2023.
- 62% of Americans say they are not on track to have enough saved for retirement, including nearly 63% of Baby Boomers.
- 37% of non-retired Americans say they won't be able to retire until they're at least 75. About 23% say they won't be able to retire until at least 80.
- 52% report their net worth is less than $30,000. About 25% say their net worth is $0 or negative, meaning their debt exceeds their assets.
- 83% of Americans regret not doing more to improve their finances in 2023.
- 24% still receive financial support from their parents, including 46% of Gen Z and 31% of Millennials.
- 53% of Millennials admit to misrepresenting their financial situation to make it sound better than it really is.
- 37% of Americans say money does buy happiness.
- Gen Z (50%) and Millennials (45%) are nearly twice as likely to say money buys happiness as Gen X (27%) and baby boomers (23%).
- As the holidays approach, Americans expect to spend $534 on gifts. But 48% are concerned they won't be able to afford holiday shopping.
The full report can be found here.
Just Because It’s Autumn Doesn’t Mean Falling for Schemes to Overcharge You for CU Industry News. Instead, Try This Crisp Offer
The biggest, best and freshest news reporting in credit unions remains free! Each morning CUToday.info delivers its daily Fresh Today news update offering the latest headlines and breaking news right to your email, with the easy-to-read headlines format allowing you to click on the stories that interest you most in order to learn more. So stop paying those bank-fee-like subscription prices from other so-called “news” publications!
If you haven’t yet signed up for the new email solution on which CUToday.info has partnered with ResponseGenius, you can do so here. Signing up requires less than one minute of your time—and it’s free!
Please note that after signing up you may need to go to your Spam/Junk folder and mark the morning headlines email as safe. CUToday.info does not provide its list of readers and emails to outside parties, and we will not be contacting you to sell you an extended warranty or sending you any links so you may cash in on an inheritance you didn’t know was coming.
And did we mention it’s free?