The FINANCIAL — The economy remains something of a paradox. As leading indicators continue to move into positive territory and the Dow Jones Industrial Index remains near 17,000, all should indicate a rosy situation. But this doesn’t seem to translate into a rosy opinion of how the economy is actually doing. The American public remains concerned about many aspects of the overall economic picture and, more importantly, how it impacts them in their wallets and savings accounts, according to Harris Interactive Inc.
The President is a figure who the public blames when things are not going well economically but rewards when things are going well. And, only three in ten Americans (30%) give President Obama positive ratings for his handling of the economy while seven in ten (70%) give him negative ratings. This is down slightly from last month, when almost one-third (32%) gave the President positive marks on the economy and over two-thirds (68%) gave him negative ratings.
When it comes to their household’s financial condition, half of Americans (51%) say they expect it will remain the same in the next six months while just under one-quarter (23%) say it will be better and just over one-quarter (26%) say it will be worse. Compared to last month, this is a little worse. The same number of Americans felt things would be better (23%), but more said things would remain the same (54%) and fewer said things would be worse (23%), according to Harris Interactive Inc.
Some worries Americans have
Financial worries can keep people up at night. More than two-thirds of those Americans who are either employed themselves or have a spouse who is (68%) say they are worried they will not have enough money for retirement while more than three in five of this same group (63%) worry they will have health care costs they cannot afford. While three in five of these employed Americans (60%) say they are not worried that they or their spouse will have to take on a second job to make ends meet, two in five (40%) are worried about this.
A majority of all Americans (55%) are worried that they will have to work later in life than they want because they won’t be able to afford to retire. However, this includes people who may have their eyes already on retirement. Among the younger generations, the worry is a lot more as almost two-thirds of Millennials (64%) and three-quarters of Gen Xers (74%) are worried about this, according to Harris Interactive Inc.
Parents are always going to have special worries, whether it is about the health of their children or just their overall happiness, no matter what their age. Among those parents with children under 18, more than three in five (63%) are worried that they will not have enough money for one or more of their children to go to college. And over one-third of parents of children of all ages (36%) are worried that their child or children will have to move back in with them because they will not be able to afford housing.
Housing worries are another issue. Almost one-quarter of those with a mortgage (23%) are worried that they will lose their home because they can’t afford the mortgage payments, and this rises to one-third of Millennials (32%) who own a home and have a mortgage. Among those who are not yet home owners, three in five (61%) are worried they will not be able to afford to buy a home. More than two-thirds of Gen Xers who do not own a home (68%) and two-thirds of non home owning Millennials (66%) are worried they will not be able to afford to buy a home.
Then there are the basic things one buys every day – some are small luxuries such as a latte; others are really basic such as food and transportation. Half of Americans (51%) are worried they will not be able to afford anything more than the basic necessities and two in five (41%) are worried that they will not have enough money for basic necessities such as food, housing, clothes, and transport, according to Harris Interactive Inc.
Discussion about this post