Yesterday, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority released the results of its second National Financial Capability Study (the first was in 2009).
Excerpts from the news release:
- Younger Americans, especially those who are 34 and under, are more likely to show signs of financial stress, including taking a loan or hardship withdrawal from their retirement account or making late mortgage payments.
- Younger Americans are more likely than older Americans to have unpaid medical bills. Of those surveyed, 31 percent of Americans aged 18-34 reported having unpaid medical bills compared to 17 percent for Americans aged 55 or older.
- Fewer than half (41 percent) of Americans surveyed reported spending less than their income.
- More than half of Americans (56 percent) do not have rainy-day savings to cover three months of unanticipated financial emergencies.
- Over a third of Americans (34 percent) reported paying only the minimum credit card payment during the past year.
- On a test of five basic financial literacy questions, the national average was 2.88 correct answers.
The heading for the Indiana news release is “Financial Capability Survey Shows Hoosiers Are 2nd Worst at Rainy Day Savings, and 28 Percent Report Unpaid Medical Bills”.
