Interesting Financial Facts
- Regardless of personal income, only 32% of people could cover a $5,000 emergency without borrowing money. (Gallup Poll)
- Nearly 70% of all consumers live from paycheck to paycheck (Wall Street Journal)
- A Parenting Magazine poll indicates that 49% could not cover even one month’s expenses if they were to miss a paycheck.
- 17% of Americans do not have enough savings to cover one week without a paycheck. 55% could not live for 3 months or less without a paycheck. (USA Today)
- In a worldwide survey, 22% of US consumers said they have no money left after paying basic living expenses. Only Portugal had more cash-poor respondents with 23%. (Kiplinger’s Magazine)
- Total US consumer debt is $2.43 trillion as of May, 2011 (Federal Reserve)
- Average credit card debt per household is $15,799 as of May, 2011 up from $9,312 in 2005.
- Non-business bankruptcies in 2010 totaled 1,536,799. Of those, 72% were Chapter 7 bankruptcies. (U.S. Bankruptcy Courts)
- In 2007, total consumer debt was $2.5 trillion. Consumer overall indebtedness (including mortgages) increased from $1.4 trillion to $11.5 trillion from 1980 to 2005. (Federal Reserve Statistical Release, June 7, 2006; GAO Report 06-929)
- 60% of working Americans experience moderate to high levels of financial stress. One-fifth of those believe their financial stress has gotten worse in the last 18-24 months. (2004 National Omnibus Survey, reported in Ameriprise.com)
- 53% of Americans have less than $25,000 in retirement savings. 43% of those people are over 55! 30% believe that they only need $250,000 or less in total retirement savings. (Retirement Confidence Survey, 2006)
- When asked how they make their retirement planning decisions, 44% of working Americans say they “guess.” (Retirement Confidence Survey, 2006)
