This is the biggest money worry in your state…
September 17, 2015 by Quentin Fottrell, Personal Finance Reporter
The financial worries that keep Americans up at night differ depending on where they live (and sleep).
More than 10,000 Americans were asked to choose their “biggest financial challenge” from seven options: Planning for retirement, saving for a home, saving up an emergency fund, sticking to a budget, building an investment portfolio, paying for higher education, and paying off credit cards. Residents of more than half of all states named retirement planning as the biggest challenge, while one-third of respondents said they struggle most with sticking to a budget, the survey found — but there was sharp contrast between both coasts, and the Midwest. It was conducted by personal finance site GoBankingRates.com.
Among the findings: Only six places named paying for higher education their No. 1 challenge, including California, Hawaii and Washington, D.C. Also notable: Around 60% of those surveyed in Western states said they were most concerned with sticking to a budget, while two-thirds of Midwest states said retirement planning is their biggest challenge. Despite multiple reports that housing is becoming more unaffordable due to a double-edged sword of rising home prices and flat wages, saving for a home and building an investment portfolio were not among the biggest concerns for residents of any state.
“We saw a relationship between the biggest financial challenge in a given state and the local economic conditions,” says Casey Bond, editor-in-chief of GoBankingRates.com. “It’s also not a huge surprise that retirement planning is the biggest financial challenge among Americans overall, given near-zero interest rates and ongoing market volatility.” Californians, a state with a high cost of living, said they were most concerned with higher education. Only Alaska, New Hampshire and Maine cited paying off credit cards as No. 1. South Dakota was alone in citing an emergency fund is the biggest concern.
Still, other studies suggest that Americans can agree on the last point. Around 62% of Americans said they have no emergency savings for things such as a $1,000 emergency room visit or a $500 car repair, according to a separate survey of 1,000 adults by personal finance website Bankrate.com released earlier this year. And only 39% of respondents reported having a “rainy day” fund adequate to cover three months of expenses, a U.S. Federal Reserve survey last year of more than 4,000 adults concluded; 57% said they’d used up some or all of their savings in the Great Recession and its aftermath.
Click HERE to view The Biggest Financial Challenge In Every State
