7 ms·

25% of Americans say they worry about money ‘all the time’

mruts 7y ago
Instead of worrying about money all the time, people should probably just be saving and investing their money. Even on minimum wage it's possible to save a little bit every month provided you are willing to sacrifice other things for it. When I was younger I had a lot of friends that were making minimum wage as cooks or whatever in Boston. They (and me) had plenty of money to spend on alcohol, weed, bars, pizza, etc. If anyone had wanted to, they could have made sacrifices and put away over $250 a month. Of course, things are a little different when you have a family, but then again, in my opinion, you shouldn't have a family until you're financially stable. I know live in Tanzania and the situation is so different that I find it ridiculous when people in America complain about income inequality or the lack of a "living wage." Even the poorest employed people in America are far better off than most of the people here, and if you told them about how the so called "poorest" in America live, they would literally kill to switch places with them.
- diN0bot 7y ago
  you can't compare your situation however many years ago to someone else's situation right now somewhere else. the job and housing markets are different, people have kids, family obligations (spouse, siblings, parents, relatives, ...), ongoing physical and mental health issues, and of course different levels of support and opportunity based on class, race, gender, papers, etc.
- ziddoap 7y ago
  Unique combination of "just try harder", "me and my friends were fine", "just dont have a family duh", and "dont complain other people have it worse". Any more insights? What's your take on depression? "Just get over it"?
- overthemoon 7y ago
  Immutable law of the internet--if you write a piece about financial hardship, you get out of touch scolds in the comments preaching frugality and self denial. Take one single second to consider that maybe virtue alone isn't enough. The world has changed since you were young. Take some time to learn about it, and develop some empathy.
  - throwayEngineer 7y ago
    I have been teaching people how to save money and time, and I've yet to meet anyone to change my mind on this. You either accept that people choose to live outside their means, or people have no control over their bodies and therefore should not be punished for crimes. I don't expect people to share ideas about this topic, it's silly too. Most of us want to help people, but many hn voters would rather by publically empathetic than discuss.
    - ziddoap 7y ago
      So, being poor is a binary decision between spending too much, or some extreme autonomous-body conclusion? I reckon there is a middle ground, but what do I know.
challenger22 7y ago
A question for you folks: when you spend money on goods and services that you know represent conspicuous consumption, and on ones that represent luxury, and provide little practical utility, how does it make you feel? Using a 3.5% safe withdrawal rate, I've recently crossed the threshold where I could retire indefinitely at my current spending rate. Each day I continue working is now essentially only so I can spend more on a more luxurious lifestyle in the future. I'm fairly frugal, and it's been changing my perspective on work a bit. The first place I've been loosening up on is food.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- SolaceQuantum 7y ago
  One of the important things I find to try and understand is what it means to not be in the financial situation I'm in right now. It means being stressed all the time, and therefore the stress would affect my capacity to make long term decisions. Also, lowering my current heightened stress would become a higher priority. Therefore I would assume that (due to a combination of lowered decision making and a need to reduce stress) the spending of money to consume would actually be a very reasonable decision to make- it reduces friction on decision making and also temporarily reduces stress.
  - challenger22 7y ago
    Are you living a bare bones lifestyle? If so, and you're still stressed out of your mind, it's a tough battle. You have my empathy.
- mikestew 7y ago
  only so I can spend more on a more luxurious lifestyle in the future Or, you know, maybe allowing more philanthropy and leaving a charitable legacy for the future. There are many ways to utilize our high-tech ability to generate large incomes that don't involve spending every dime on ourselves.
  - 7y ago
NTDF9 7y ago
I'm probably one of those, despite making well over six figures. On introspection, I realized that I was worried about money because the system is set up as a casino. You just HAVE to gamble to save the fruits of your labor. Every investment is more speculation than production. In addition, inflation is way way over what the fed thinks it is. To add salt to the wound, I'm actually capable of understanding these problems mathematically. My friends/relatives who don't understand all this are blissfully unaware. They live out their lives until a crisis hits and need to beg for money. I sometimes wonder if I should really take the blue pill and live with the mantra ignorance is bliss.
- throwayEngineer 7y ago
  I know that feeling. Banking cash feels irresponsible. But they aren't talking about us who are aware of the looming USD crisis and invest money. They are talking about those who don't invest.
  - b3n 7y ago
    What is the looming USD crisis?
- turtlegrids 7y ago
  > the system is set up as a casino. You just HAVE to gamble to save the fruits of your labor Is a savings/checking account a "gamble"? Is a money market?
  - NTDF9 7y ago
    Have you seen real world inflation lately? If not, I encourage you to do so (disclaimer: stressful days follows)
the_watcher 7y ago
The actual findings are that Americans are feeling better about their finances than any time in recent memory. The headline seems to imply that there's an emerging crisis of confidence (there might be, but the data presented in the article certainly doesn't support it).
- throwayEngineer 7y ago
  CNBC quality articles for you. I'm surprised they are considered mainstream media. Is that only because they have a TV channel?
  - the_watcher 7y ago
    The article is fine! It's that the headline implies a different article that is frustrating. I know headline-writing and article-writing are often separate functions, but this is a headline for an entirely different article.
nbs_tar 7y ago
BOOOOOOOO CNBC: Headline: 25% of Americans say they worry about money 'all the time' Body: 25% worry 'all' or 'most' of the time that their household income won’t be enough to cover their expenses. Link to 25% worry 'all or 'most' of the time: Leads to unrelated article about New Yorkers. Underlying poll: "11% of Americans say they worry about money 'all the time.'
- NRv9tR 7y ago
  The Gallup article they link to (also the source) says... "Overall, just 25% of Americans say they worry "all" or "most" of the time that their family income will not meet their expenses; 37% worry "some of the time"; and 37% "almost never" worry." The source of this easily discoverable in the PDF Gallup links to on their article. https://news.gallup.com/file/poll/249191/190429PersonalFinances.pdf https://news.gallup.com/file/poll/249191/190429PersonalFinan...
- throwayEngineer 7y ago
  I don't read CNBC anymore, I found their articles are clickbait opinions. They don't seem to do investigations, but rather reporting stories with buzz producing titles.
- the_watcher 7y ago
  It's even worse: the body is actually that financial optimism has "reached levels not seen in more than 16 years”
sabarn01 7y ago
So 1/4 people worry about money constantly. My guess is you could ask that question about a great variety of topics and get a similar result. I think the thing we are testing here is the cross section of those who are by default fearful and their exposure to whichever topic is on offer.
- sabarn01 7y ago
  The pew numbers for terrorism are pretty similar https://www.people-press.org/2010/12/02/despite-years-of-terror-scares-publics-concerns-remain-fairly-steady/ https://www.people-press.org/2010/12/02/despite-years-of-ter...
throwaway1492 7y ago
I haven't had to worry about money so long as I've been in software development. It's a great feeling. I grew up in rural poverty and I live in fear of losing what I have. That's why I'm currently working more than one remote dev job concurrently and earning 2 fulltime salaries; to amass as much wealth as I can before the current bubble pops.
- ProAm 7y ago
  > to amass as much wealth as I can before the current bubble pops I think this means you worry about money.
- commandlinefan 7y ago
  > I haven't had to worry about money so long as I've been in software development. Wait until your kids get close to graduating high school... my oldest will be starting college in about 3 years and even though I've been saving since he was born, I still have no idea how I'm going to pay for all of it.
  - throwayEngineer 7y ago
    Don't? My parents never paid for my college and I Graduated debt free with an engineering degree. Maybe having to pay for college will cause them to take internships to pay for college.
    - mgkimsal 7y ago
      amen... I was in the middle - my parents helped some - probably to the tune of maybe 20% total of my expenses. I worked multiple jobs, got some small scholarships, took out some loans. A mixed bag, but there was no question in my mind that somehow my parents "owed" me that luxury. they had 2 other kids to deal with as well after me.
    - rabidrat 7y ago
      I'm guessing you didn't go to college in the past 10 years. Things have changed. Nowadays it is impossible to pay for college with any kind of job you can get in college. And many internships are unpaid. So by not paying for college, they would be signing their kids up for $100k+ of debt to start off their lives. I think maybe their kids should consider "not going to college" but that's a hard idea to sell, since it does have a measurable impact on the work and income a person can get.
fullshark 7y ago
That seems low if 40% of Americans can't find $400 for a surprise expense...or maybe the fact that it's so low is why they can't $400 if they needed it. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nearly-40-of-americans-cant-cover-a-surprise-400-expense/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nearly-40-of-americans-cant-cov...
- astura 7y ago
  Because people like using credit cards for everyday spend, apparently? "With cash or money currently in checking/savings" is at 45% but the next highest percent is "With a credit card, paid off in full at the next statement" at 33%. There's plenty of reason to use a credit card for a $400 expense even if you have $30,000 sitting in your checking account, so those who expect to pay off their credit card in full when the balance closes should be "counted" as having the emergency covered.
ianwalter 7y ago
25% worry about money all the time and 33% can't cover an unexpected $400 expense. Yikes! Seems like the gap between those two should be a lot smaller.
RickJWagner 7y ago
Another recent study (I saw it on HN) said that the majority of people worried about finances spend every discretionary dollar on entertainment. This is nonsense. Financial education (from a young age) should be mandatory. The number of people in dire financial straights should be miniscule, if everybody acted with good financial sense consistently. This is wholly a man-made crisis. Participation is completely voluntary.

Instead of worrying about money all the time, people should probably just be saving and investing their money. Even on minimum wage it's possible to save a little bit every month provided you are willing to sacrifice other things for it. When I was younger I had a lot of friends that were making minimum wage as cooks or whatever in Boston. They (and me) had plenty of money to spend on alcohol, weed, bars, pizza, etc. If anyone had wanted to, they could have made sacrifices and put away over $250 a month. Of course, things are a little different when you have a family, but then again, in my opinion, you shouldn't have a family until you're financially stable. I know live in Tanzania and the situation is so different that I find it ridiculous when people in America complain about income inequality or the lack of a "living wage." Even the poorest employed people in America are far better off than most of the people here, and if you told them about how the so called "poorest" in America live, they would literally kill to switch places with them.

diN0bot 7y ago
you can't compare your situation however many years ago to someone else's situation right now somewhere else. the job and housing markets are different, people have kids, family obligations (spouse, siblings, parents, relatives, ...), ongoing physical and mental health issues, and of course different levels of support and opportunity based on class, race, gender, papers, etc.
ziddoap 7y ago
Unique combination of "just try harder", "me and my friends were fine", "just dont have a family duh", and "dont complain other people have it worse". Any more insights? What's your take on depression? "Just get over it"?
overthemoon 7y ago
Immutable law of the internet--if you write a piece about financial hardship, you get out of touch scolds in the comments preaching frugality and self denial. Take one single second to consider that maybe virtue alone isn't enough. The world has changed since you were young. Take some time to learn about it, and develop some empathy.
- throwayEngineer 7y ago
  I have been teaching people how to save money and time, and I've yet to meet anyone to change my mind on this. You either accept that people choose to live outside their means, or people have no control over their bodies and therefore should not be punished for crimes. I don't expect people to share ideas about this topic, it's silly too. Most of us want to help people, but many hn voters would rather by publically empathetic than discuss.
  - ziddoap 7y ago
    So, being poor is a binary decision between spending too much, or some extreme autonomous-body conclusion? I reckon there is a middle ground, but what do I know.

challenger22 7y ago

A question for you folks: when you spend money on goods and services that you know represent conspicuous consumption, and on ones that represent luxury, and provide little practical utility, how does it make you feel? Using a 3.5% safe withdrawal rate, I've recently crossed the threshold where I could retire indefinitely at my current spending rate. Each day I continue working is now essentially only so I can spend more on a more luxurious lifestyle in the future. I'm fairly frugal, and it's been changing my perspective on work a bit. The first place I've been loosening up on is food.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
SolaceQuantum 7y ago
One of the important things I find to try and understand is what it means to not be in the financial situation I'm in right now. It means being stressed all the time, and therefore the stress would affect my capacity to make long term decisions. Also, lowering my current heightened stress would become a higher priority. Therefore I would assume that (due to a combination of lowered decision making and a need to reduce stress) the spending of money to consume would actually be a very reasonable decision to make- it reduces friction on decision making and also temporarily reduces stress.
- challenger22 7y ago
  Are you living a bare bones lifestyle? If so, and you're still stressed out of your mind, it's a tough battle. You have my empathy.
mikestew 7y ago
only so I can spend more on a more luxurious lifestyle in the future Or, you know, maybe allowing more philanthropy and leaving a charitable legacy for the future. There are many ways to utilize our high-tech ability to generate large incomes that don't involve spending every dime on ourselves.
- 7y ago

NTDF9 7y ago

I'm probably one of those, despite making well over six figures. On introspection, I realized that I was worried about money because the system is set up as a casino. You just HAVE to gamble to save the fruits of your labor. Every investment is more speculation than production. In addition, inflation is way way over what the fed thinks it is. To add salt to the wound, I'm actually capable of understanding these problems mathematically. My friends/relatives who don't understand all this are blissfully unaware. They live out their lives until a crisis hits and need to beg for money. I sometimes wonder if I should really take the blue pill and live with the mantra ignorance is bliss.

throwayEngineer 7y ago
I know that feeling. Banking cash feels irresponsible. But they aren't talking about us who are aware of the looming USD crisis and invest money. They are talking about those who don't invest.
- b3n 7y ago
  What is the looming USD crisis?
turtlegrids 7y ago
> the system is set up as a casino. You just HAVE to gamble to save the fruits of your labor Is a savings/checking account a "gamble"? Is a money market?
- NTDF9 7y ago
  Have you seen real world inflation lately? If not, I encourage you to do so (disclaimer: stressful days follows)

the_watcher 7y ago

The actual findings are that Americans are feeling better about their finances than any time in recent memory. The headline seems to imply that there's an emerging crisis of confidence (there might be, but the data presented in the article certainly doesn't support it).

throwayEngineer 7y ago
CNBC quality articles for you. I'm surprised they are considered mainstream media. Is that only because they have a TV channel?
- the_watcher 7y ago
  The article is fine! It's that the headline implies a different article that is frustrating. I know headline-writing and article-writing are often separate functions, but this is a headline for an entirely different article.

nbs_tar 7y ago

BOOOOOOOO CNBC: Headline: 25% of Americans say they worry about money 'all the time' Body: 25% worry 'all' or 'most' of the time that their household income won’t be enough to cover their expenses. Link to 25% worry 'all or 'most' of the time: Leads to unrelated article about New Yorkers. Underlying poll: "11% of Americans say they worry about money 'all the time.'

NRv9tR 7y ago
The Gallup article they link to (also the source) says... "Overall, just 25% of Americans say they worry "all" or "most" of the time that their family income will not meet their expenses; 37% worry "some of the time"; and 37% "almost never" worry." The source of this easily discoverable in the PDF Gallup links to on their article. https://news.gallup.com/file/poll/249191/190429PersonalFinances.pdf https://news.gallup.com/file/poll/249191/190429PersonalFinan...
throwayEngineer 7y ago
I don't read CNBC anymore, I found their articles are clickbait opinions. They don't seem to do investigations, but rather reporting stories with buzz producing titles.
the_watcher 7y ago
It's even worse: the body is actually that financial optimism has "reached levels not seen in more than 16 years”

sabarn01 7y ago

So 1/4 people worry about money constantly. My guess is you could ask that question about a great variety of topics and get a similar result. I think the thing we are testing here is the cross section of those who are by default fearful and their exposure to whichever topic is on offer.

sabarn01 7y ago
The pew numbers for terrorism are pretty similar https://www.people-press.org/2010/12/02/despite-years-of-terror-scares-publics-concerns-remain-fairly-steady/ https://www.people-press.org/2010/12/02/despite-years-of-ter...

throwaway1492 7y ago

I haven't had to worry about money so long as I've been in software development. It's a great feeling. I grew up in rural poverty and I live in fear of losing what I have. That's why I'm currently working more than one remote dev job concurrently and earning 2 fulltime salaries; to amass as much wealth as I can before the current bubble pops.

ProAm 7y ago
> to amass as much wealth as I can before the current bubble pops I think this means you worry about money.
commandlinefan 7y ago
> I haven't had to worry about money so long as I've been in software development. Wait until your kids get close to graduating high school... my oldest will be starting college in about 3 years and even though I've been saving since he was born, I still have no idea how I'm going to pay for all of it.
- throwayEngineer 7y ago
  Don't? My parents never paid for my college and I Graduated debt free with an engineering degree. Maybe having to pay for college will cause them to take internships to pay for college.
  - mgkimsal 7y ago
    amen... I was in the middle - my parents helped some - probably to the tune of maybe 20% total of my expenses. I worked multiple jobs, got some small scholarships, took out some loans. A mixed bag, but there was no question in my mind that somehow my parents "owed" me that luxury. they had 2 other kids to deal with as well after me.
  - rabidrat 7y ago
    I'm guessing you didn't go to college in the past 10 years. Things have changed. Nowadays it is impossible to pay for college with any kind of job you can get in college. And many internships are unpaid. So by not paying for college, they would be signing their kids up for $100k+ of debt to start off their lives. I think maybe their kids should consider "not going to college" but that's a hard idea to sell, since it does have a measurable impact on the work and income a person can get.

fullshark 7y ago

That seems low if 40% of Americans can't find $400 for a surprise expense...or maybe the fact that it's so low is why they can't $400 if they needed it. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nearly-40-of-americans-cant-cover-a-surprise-400-expense/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nearly-40-of-americans-cant-cov...

astura 7y ago
Because people like using credit cards for everyday spend, apparently? "With cash or money currently in checking/savings" is at 45% but the next highest percent is "With a credit card, paid off in full at the next statement" at 33%. There's plenty of reason to use a credit card for a $400 expense even if you have $30,000 sitting in your checking account, so those who expect to pay off their credit card in full when the balance closes should be "counted" as having the emergency covered.

ianwalter 7y ago

25% worry about money all the time and 33% can't cover an unexpected $400 expense. Yikes! Seems like the gap between those two should be a lot smaller.

RickJWagner 7y ago

Another recent study (I saw it on HN) said that the majority of people worried about finances spend every discretionary dollar on entertainment. This is nonsense. Financial education (from a young age) should be mandatory. The number of people in dire financial straights should be miniscule, if everybody acted with good financial sense consistently. This is wholly a man-made crisis. Participation is completely voluntary.