Adulting tasks like filing our taxes and planning for retirement take a lot of financial knowledge and it turns out, a lot of us just don’t have it. More than half of Americans admit feeling stuck, overwhelmed or unsure about what to do when it comes to their finances, according to a new survey.
It asks 2-thousand U.S. adults about their financial behavior and strategies and finds that 53% currently feel “financially frozen.”
- Their top concerns are common issues many of us face, paying for necessities (36%) and sticking to a monthly budget (36%).
- About a quarter are worried about their savings strategy (22%) and feeling stressed about retirement (21%), loans and repaying debts (20%).
- Overall, 83% admit they’d like to be better prepared financially, and 53% don’t know where to start and worry they’ve waited too long to help make a real difference in their future.
- So, what’s making so many people feel “financially frozen” these days? The top reason is the overwhelming amount of information on the Internet and social media.
- More than three-quarters say they wish they had done things differently in the past that could have made their financial future better.
- They would’ve tried more savings strategies (55%), sticking to a stricter budget (41%) and investing (38%).
- The average person says they didn’t start taking retirement planning seriously until they were 38 and only 26% currently have a financial advisor.
- That number is low because many think financial advisors are only for the rich, and 39% think they can’t afford it, while 24% don’t think they have enough money to need one.
- Americans feel the most helpless when it comes to navigating inflation and the cost of living (25%), investing (24%), budgeting and saving (23%), retirement planning (22%) and debt management (18%).
Source: Talker