Is Your Financial Future Under Control? About third of Americans are living within their budget and think they are ready for the long-term financial future. One third of Americans are living within their means but are often not prepared for this long-term future. And a third are struggling to live within their budget. Times are tough, with some experts putting Americas real unemployment rate the number of people unemployed while seeking work, plus those unemployed because theyve given up looking at nearly twice the official unemployment rate, or 11.1 percent. What makes the 63 percent figure so significant, though, is that according to the consumer advocacy group, most Americans are doing everything right to secure their financial futures. 64 percent of respondents polled in the federations survey say they have sufficient emergency savings to pay for unexpected expenses like car repairs or a doctor visit. 68 percent say they are spending less than they earn, and saving the difference. 76 percent say they are either completely free of consumer (i.e., not mortgage or education loan) debt, or at least working to pay their debt down. Through working, saving and paying down debt, a slim majority of Americans -- 51 percent -- say they now have enough money piled up in emergency savings to pay off their entire credit card debt, should that prove necessary. A further 17 percent say they have no debt at all. Yet, despite doing all the right things financially, its not all good news. For one thing, having only enough cash to pay off your debts only gets you to a net worth of zero which probably isnt what you want to have when heading into retirement. For another thing, those same 17 percent who say they have no debt also have no savings, according to a separate study of family finances from Bankrate (RATE). And the finances of many more Americans remain in an even more perilous state 28 percent of Americans do have credit card debt, and in fact, have more debt than money they have socked away in savings. And hard as Americans are working to improve their finances, progress is hard to come by. dailyfinance/on/financial-future-americans-not-ready/
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 20:04:16 +0000