A lot of Americans are feeling defeated these days when it comes to their finances, according to new research. A survey by Achieve of a thousand U.S. adults looks at how people see their financial situation and finds more than half believe they’re nowhere near reaching financial freedom, and about a third (36%) have less than $1,000 in their savings accounts.
The personal finance company asked respondents what financial freedom means to them and the most common definitions are
- Living debt free - 54.2%
- Living comfortably, but not necessarily being rich - 50%
- The ability to regularly meet all of their financial obligations and still have some money left over each month - 49.3%
- Never having to worry about money - 46.2%
- Having enough money to stop working - 32.1%
- Being rich - 12.6%
The poll also reveals:
- Those expectations may be low, but only 11% feel they’re living their definition of financial freedom and 58% say they’re nowhere close to reaching financial freedom.
- While 78% of those surveyed have a checking account, only 60% have a savings account.
- Of those who do, 35.8% have less than $1,000 in savings.
- More respondents have a cryptocurrency wallet (13%) than a professionally managed investment account (10%).
- Despite all this, many are optimistic, with 52% saying their journey to financial freedom is getting better.
Source: The Hill