Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

US Issues New Iran-Related Sanctions, Treasury Says

38 minutes ago

Netanyahu Says He Wants Israel to Take Control of All of Gaza

1 hour ago

OpenAI Launches GPT-5 as the AI Industry Seeks a Return on Investment

1 hour ago

Americans Divided More Than Ever on Supreme Court and Congress: Gallup Poll

2 hours ago

FBI to Track Down Texas Democrats Who Fled Over Redistrict Vote, US Senator Says

3 hours ago

Trump to Sign Order Opening Way for Alternative Assets in 401(K)S, Official Says

4 hours ago

Visalia Crash Sends Car Into Marie Callender’s After Driver Runs Red Light

1 day ago

S&P 500 and Nasdaq Lifted by Earnings, Fed Hopes

1 day ago
Poll: Many Feeling Vulnerable Despite Economic Gains
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 6 years ago on
July 9, 2019

Share

WASHINGTON — Americans are generally satisfied with their personal finances, but many lack confidence in their ability to afford retirement, an emergency expense or even their daily living costs.
Roughly two-thirds, 67%, describe their financial situation as generally good, up slightly from 62% who said so at the start of the year, according to a survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Their brighter economic outlook reflects in part a decade-long U.S. economic expansion that is now the longest on record. The expansion has slashed unemployment, revived the housing market and boosted overall household wealth. But some groups, especially young adults, racial minorities and the poor, say they remain financially insecure.
Their anxiety is among the consequences of the economic expansion, which has benefited the most affluent far more than it has others. The richest Americans now hold a greater share of the nation’s wealth than they did before the Great Recession began in 2007.
Housing and college costs have imposed a much heavier strain on today’s young adults than they did on older generations. And four decades of sluggish pay growth have depressed starting salaries for people who are beginning their careers.
Nearly four in 10 Americans say they lack confidence in their ability to pay an emergency expense of $1,000. At the same time, only about 1 in 10 say it’s very likely they wouldn’t pay the bill at all, even if it meant taking a loan, relying on a credit card or borrowing money from relatives.

4 in 10 Americans Under 30 Describe Poor Financial Situation

Just two in 10 are very confident they’ll have enough savings for retirement. Nearly half have little to no confidence.
A quarter of Americans say their expenses are rising faster than their incomes. Just 11% say their salaries have outpaced their costs. (The rest say their incomes have largely kept pace with expenses.)

“Millennials are on a much lower path of wealth-building than their older predecessors.” — Reid Cramer, New America Foundation
Many older Americans have managed to build financial security through home-ownership and traditional pensions, which most employers have now phased out. About three-quarters of those ages 60 and over report feeling good about their financial situations.
By contrast, four in 10 Americans under 30 describe their financial situation as poor. Half say they doubt their ability to handle an unplanned bill — twice the proportion of people ages 60 and older.
“Millennials are on a much lower path of wealth-building than their older predecessors,” said Reid Cramer, director of the millennials initiative at the New America Foundation, a Washington-based think tank.
The generational wealth gap that emerges from the survey coincides with findings last year by researchers at the St. Louis Federal Reserve. Those researchers studied six groups of families born between 1930s and the 1980s. The youngest group, they concluded, was essentially a “lost generation” for accumulating wealth.
The median family led by someone born in the 1980s had only two-thirds the wealth that earlier generations did at the same stage in life. The same study found that the median inflation-adjusted income for people younger than 40 had declined 10% since the Great Recession. By contrast, incomes for those older than 62 had jumped 24%.

Pensions Are a Major Generational Difference

Younger workers are not only earning less. They are also clustering in large cities, where many major employers have increasingly placed their jobs. This often means moving to neighborhoods with higher housing costs.
Joshua Beard, 35, recently left an information technology job in Loretto, Tennessee, whose population is under 2,000. That next job might have to be in someplace like Nashville or Huntsville, Alabama, where there are more opportunities in his field.
“I think I’ll be able to earn as much as I was getting before, as long as I’m willing to move to a bigger area,” Beard said.
With their disproportionately higher wealth, older Americans and those earning more than $100,000 are generally more confident about managing emergency expenses and retirement savings.
Richard Farr, a 75-year-old retired anesthesia technologist, said he was helped by the sale a year ago of his home in Seattle, where figures show home values have jumped 250% since 2000. Tech companies such as Amazon fueled explosive growth in the city. Farr moved to an over-55 community in Seattle and invested the proceeds from his home sale, in addition to collecting Social Security and a pension.

The survey also reveals significant differences in financial security based on race, ethnicity, and education. African-Americans and Latinos are more likely than white adults to describe their financial situations as poor.
“I did OK,” Farr said. “Not as well as some of the others in real estate investing. But I’m not unhappy with my proceeds.”
Pensions represent another major generational difference.
Only 17% of private-sector workers last year had access to a traditional pension plan, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, down from 38% in 1980. Younger workers instead must typically rely on 401(k) and other retirement plans that require more of their own contributions, lack a guaranteed benefit and tend to be less generous than traditional pensions.
The AP-NORC survey also reveals significant differences in financial security based on race, ethnicity and education. African-Americans and Latinos are more likely than white adults to describe their financial situations as poor.
People’s views about their financial well-being appear to depend, at least in part, on which party controls the White House and Congress. About eight in 10 Republicans describe their financial situations as good, compared with about six in 10 Democrats who do. Nearly half of Republicans, but only about three in 10 Democrats, say they believe their financial situations will improve over the next year.
The AP-NORC poll of 1,116 adults was conducted June 13-17 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4 percentage points. Respondents were first selected randomly using address-based sampling methods and later were interviewed online or by phone.

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Now That Harris Is Out, California’s Governor Candidates Hit the Money Trail

DON'T MISS

US Issues New Iran-Related Sanctions, Treasury Says

DON'T MISS

Netanyahu Says He Wants Israel to Take Control of All of Gaza

DON'T MISS

OpenAI Launches GPT-5 as the AI Industry Seeks a Return on Investment

DON'T MISS

Americans Divided More Than Ever on Supreme Court and Congress: Gallup Poll

DON'T MISS

Feeling Ghoulish? Fresno Haunted House Puts Out Call for Actors

DON'T MISS

She Survived a 9-Story Fall After a Russian Missile Hit Her Building

DON'T MISS

FBI to Track Down Texas Democrats Who Fled Over Redistrict Vote, US Senator Says

DON'T MISS

Trump to Sign Order Requiring Universities Disclose Admissions Data on Race

DON'T MISS

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Jennifer Ayers Thompson

UP NEXT

FBI to Track Down Texas Democrats Who Fled Over Redistrict Vote, US Senator Says

UP NEXT

Trump to Sign Order Requiring Universities Disclose Admissions Data on Race

UP NEXT

Trump to Sign Order Opening Way for Alternative Assets in 401(K)S, Official Says

UP NEXT

Trump Calls on ‘Highly Conflicted’ Intel CEO to Resign Over China Ties

UP NEXT

Trump Says US Will Charge Tariff of About 100% on Semiconductor Imports

UP NEXT

Trump Weighs Getting Involved in New York City Mayor Race

UP NEXT

Apple Commits Additional $100 Billion to US Investments

UP NEXT

US Army Sergeant Suspected of Shooting, Wounding Five Fellow Soldiers at Fort Stewart in Georgia

UP NEXT

Switzerland Facing 39% US Tariff as President Leaves Washington Empty-Handed

UP NEXT

Five US Soldiers Shot at Georgia Base, Shooter in Custody

OpenAI Launches GPT-5 as the AI Industry Seeks a Return on Investment

1 hour ago

Americans Divided More Than Ever on Supreme Court and Congress: Gallup Poll

2 hours ago

Feeling Ghoulish? Fresno Haunted House Puts Out Call for Actors

2 hours ago

She Survived a 9-Story Fall After a Russian Missile Hit Her Building

2 hours ago

FBI to Track Down Texas Democrats Who Fled Over Redistrict Vote, US Senator Says

3 hours ago

Trump to Sign Order Requiring Universities Disclose Admissions Data on Race

3 hours ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Jennifer Ayers Thompson

3 hours ago

Body Recovered from California Aqueduct in Kings County, Authorities Say

3 hours ago

Fresno County Authorities Say Friends Staged Fake Robbery Shooting

4 hours ago

Democracy Be Damned: Texas and California Plot Dueling Gerrymanders

4 hours ago

Now That Harris Is Out, California’s Governor Candidates Hit the Money Trail

Kamala Harris is out. Wealthy Los Angeles businessman Rick Caruso — now a Democrat —remains an undecided wild card. And the main players hop...

30 minutes ago

fundraising CA Governor
30 minutes ago

Now That Harris Is Out, California’s Governor Candidates Hit the Money Trail

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent attends a press conference at government quarters Rosenbad after the trade talks between the U.S. and China concluded, in Stockholm, Sweden, July 29, 2025. (Reuters File)
38 minutes ago

US Issues New Iran-Related Sanctions, Treasury Says

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to the press, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. U.S. July 8, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
1 hour ago

Netanyahu Says He Wants Israel to Take Control of All of Gaza

A smartphone with a displayed ChatGPT logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken February 23, 2023. (Reuters File)
1 hour ago

OpenAI Launches GPT-5 as the AI Industry Seeks a Return on Investment

A general view of the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, U.S., June 1, 2024. (Reuters File)
2 hours ago

Americans Divided More Than Ever on Supreme Court and Congress: Gallup Poll

Fresno Fright Nights
2 hours ago

Feeling Ghoulish? Fresno Haunted House Puts Out Call for Actors

A view inside one of the apartments in the residential building that was partly destroyed by a Russian missile the night of July 31 in Kyiv, Ukraine, Aug. 4, 2025. Veronika Osintseva went to sleep in her bed on the ninth floor of an apartment building in Kyiv and woke up on a pile of rubble outside. She saw her leg covered in blood and cried out for help, thinking only of the pain, she would later say, and not how she had survived. (Oksana Parafeniuk/The New York Times)
2 hours ago

She Survived a 9-Story Fall After a Russian Missile Hit Her Building

Texas Senators attend a redistricting hearing for invited guests after Democratic lawmakers left the state to deny Republicans the quorum needed to redraw the state's 38 congressional districts, at the Capitol in Austin, Texas, U.S. August 6, 2025. (Reuters File)
3 hours ago

FBI to Track Down Texas Democrats Who Fled Over Redistrict Vote, US Senator Says

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend