The Covid-19 pandemic was not kind on the bank balances of many Americans, especially those working in industries like travel and hospitality. On top of the last two year of struggle, the rising cost of living, driven by the Russian war with Ukraine and drastically rising fuel costs, has added extra woes for a great number of people in the United States.
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As this infographic using Gallup survey data reveals, worries in the U.S. have been spreading in key aspects of personal finance. Not having enough money for retirement, already on the minds of a majority of Americans when surveyed in 2019, has risen 9 points to 63 percent in 2022.
The largest percentage point increase over this time period was for those saying they are moderately or very worried about maintaining their desired standard of living – going from 42 percent in 2019 to 52 percent in 2022.
Naturally, there are significant differences when looking at the results by income bracket.
As Gallup reports, “Most notably, the percentage worried about maintaining their standard of living has increased 17 points among lower-income adults, from 56% in 2021 to 73% today. By contrast, it has increased six points to 52% among middle-income earners and four points to 36% among the top income group.”
This article originally appeared on Statista.com and was syndicated by MediaFeed.org.
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57 fab facts about money you probably didn’t know
Sure, you use money nearly every day, but how much do you really know about its power when it comes to income, wealth and retirement? The facts about how wealth operates in our world are not as clear as they might seem. It isn’t a simple matter of dollars and cents.
For example, did you know that wealth is shifting? For example, the “middle class” isn’t a static definition of a group of people; it’s a moving target describing those at the median income. That definition has changed over time as wealth has shifted upward and the rich have gotten richer.
Learn more about the middle class, income inequality and the shifts in wealth in the United States with the following 57 facts about money.
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Inequality is getting worse, not better. Income inequality has grown in every single state since the ‘70s.
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Prior to 1973, the top 1 percent claimed 4.9 percent of all income growth, but from 1973 – 2007 they claimed 58.7 percent of all income growth.
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As of 2018, there were 173.90 ATMs per 100,000 adults in the United States.
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Minting money isn’t just a turn of phrase. Coins are literally produced in a place called a “mint.”
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Apple makes an average $163.1 million every day — that’s $1 million every 8.8 minutes.
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But there’s one company out-earning Apple: Saudi Aramco. It makes $304.04 million every day, or $1 million every 4.7 minutes.
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Americans spend big on their pets. For 2019, it’s estimated we’ll spend $75.38 billion. That’s up from $72.56 billion in 2018.
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In the United States., the public debt in 2019 was $18.087 trillion, most of it coming from Treasury bills, notes and bonds.
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Most family fortunes are squandered within three generations.
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As of 2019, about 40 percent of Americans were not financially prepared for an unexpected emergency costing $400 or more.
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As of March 2019, there were 2,154 billionaires in the world.
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In 2018, billionaires’ wealth grew by 12 percent, or $2.5 billion per day.
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Meanwhile, the poorest 50 percent of people saw their wealth fall by 11 percent and live on less than $5.50 per day.
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Wealth is not spread equally between the sexes. Men have 50 percent more of the world’s total wealth than women do.
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Out of all the taxes collected globally, just four cents out of every dollar came from a tax on wealth.
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According to Oxfam, a 1 percent tax on wealth could fun schooling for 262 million children currently out of school.
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The richest person in the world is Jeff Bezos, with a fortune of $112 billion. One percent of his total wealth is about the same as the entire health budget of Ethiopia.
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A study discovered that the wealthiest people in Florence today are direct descendents of the wealthiest people in Florence 600 years ago.
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A researcher found that being wealthy could have a corrosive effect on someone’s morals, making people act more in their own interests rather than considering others’ needs.
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A study found that women who waited until 30 or later to get married earned more money. Women with a college education who waited until 30 or later earned more than $18,000 more than their counterparts who married younger.
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Paying with plastic is older than you might think. The first credit cards were used in the United States in the 1920s. Women, however, were not allowed to have their own credit cards until 1974. The Equal Credit Opportunity Act changed that, making it unlawful for any creditor to discriminate against any applicant on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, or marital status.
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Credit cards as we know them came about in the 1950s and today account for a large amount of debt. On average, a household with a credit card has $8,398 in debt.
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In 2019, consumer debt hit $14 trillion dollars, with $9.4 trillion being home debt and $1.3 trillion being auto debt. Another $1.48 trillion was student loan debt.
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Zimbabwe has the highest inflation rate in the world. In August of 2019, it hit 300 percent.
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According to the United Nations, there are currently 180 different currencies used around the world.
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The dollar is the most common type of currency, and the U.S. dollar is the most commonly used and recognized type of dollar in the world.
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Cryptocurrencies, which are entirely digital and include things like Bitcoin, have boomed in recent years. There are currently more than 4,000 cryptocurrencies available.
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It costs more to make a penny than a penny is actually worth. The U.S. Government Accountability Office estimates the U.S. Mint would save about $250 million in 10 years if they stopped making pennies.
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The TSA collects a lot of loose change left behind in security bins. In 2012, TSA collected $531,000. In 2016, that rose to more than $867,000. And last year, in 2018, it nabbed nearly $1 million in our loose change.
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Our paper money doesn’t last very long. A $1 bill will last about 18 months, a $5 bill 2 years, a $10 bill 3 years and a $20 bill 4 years. Coins, on the other hand, can last 30 years.
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The three richest men in the world — Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffett — have more wealth than the bottom 50 percent of Americans.
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The richest 5 percent of Americans claim two-thirds of the nation’s wealth.
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Debt is a heavy weight on people’s psychological well-being, but medical debt is particularly bleak. While 86 percent of people with mortgages (home debt) were satisfied with their lives, only 64 percent of people with medical debt were satisfied with their lives.
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Debt is more than a financial burden. Most people with debt said they felt ashamed by it. Mortgage holders had the least shame – 57 percent said they felt ashamed. But credit cards hit 69 percent, student loans 70 percent and medical debt once again topped the list at 76 percent.
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Wages for the middle class fell from 2000 to 2017. In 2000, the middle class earned $45,826 in wages, while in 2017 they earned $41,640.
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While wages fell, the middle class did see an increase in their total income, from $64,280 in 2000 to $67,629 in 2017. This boost comes from an increase in government aid going to the middle class.
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Millennials get a bad rap, but they actually have the lowest average credit card debt among Americans. While 56.7 percent of Millennials have credit card debt, 67.6 percent of Gen X and 65.6 percent of baby boomers have credit card debt.
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Wealth inequality does not impact us all equally. The average white family has 41 times more wealth than the average black family and 22 times more than the average Latino family.
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Wealth comes from different places for different tiers on the social ladder. The wealthiest people get their wealth from stocks and mutual funds while the bottom 90 percent of Americans get most of their wealth from their homes.
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Work is not distributed equally. Among workers making the minimum wage in the U.S., 63 percent are women. Meanwhile, only 5 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs are women.
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Women tend to make up only a small percentage of the highest earners in every country, not just America. Across 88 countries, women accounted for 14 to 22 percent of the top 1 percent of earners. This survey was conducted between 2010 and 2014.
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A third of student loan debt is concentrated in the hands of about 6 percent of borrowers. That’s because that 6 percent owes more than $100,000 in student loans. Most borrowers owe less than that and nearly 20 percent owe less than $5,000.
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Graduate school is a particular burden for borrowers with student loans. Graduate school loans account for almost half of outstanding student loan debt.
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As of 2019, if you’re a kid in the United States, your average allowance from your parents is $65 per month.
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If Bill Gates tried to spend all his money he’d have a tough time. Even spending $1 million per day wouldn’t deplete his fortune for 218 years.
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For 2019, people receiving Social Security got an average of $1,461 per month, or $17,532 per year.
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About 20 percent of workers say they’ll probably never be able to retire and 19 percent of people 65 and older polled in 2017 said they were going to continue working full- or part-time.
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One way people are making up the difference in retirement savings is through IRAs. About 35 percent of households have a traditional IRA account, with another 36 percent having Roth IRAs for savings. Twenty percent of households were contributing to more than one type of IRA.
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While most of us envision retirement as hitting at age 65, more than half (55 percent) of Americans retire earlier, often due to health reasons or an unexpected job loss.
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Social Security may not last forever. It is estimated that without changes to taxes and benefits, Social Security will run out of money by 2034.
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We’re spending a lot on interest, about 5 percent of the money we take home goes to paying off interest. And across our lifetimes, the average American will spend over $600,000 on interest payments.
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Gambling brings in a massive amount of money in the U.S. Gambling revenue is bigger than theme parks, sports, cruises and music – combined.
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Medical expenses are costing us a lot in retirement. As of 2018, the average retired couple was looking at $280,000 in healthcare costs during their retirement.
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In 2019, there were 38.15 million American children living below the poverty line.
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The overall U.S. poverty rate in 2019 was 11.8 percent, but for black Americans that number was 20.8 percent.
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The concept of money has been around since before recorded history. It’s believed to have arisen as a medium of exchange as early as 5,000 B.C. and was usually in the form of attractive objects like beads, shells and various metals.
Aristotle said of the creation of money “When the inhabitants of one country became more dependent on those of another, and they imported what they needed, and exported what they had too much of, money necessarily came into use.”
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Paper money is believed to have been introduced as official currency during the Song Dynasty in China during the 11th century, allowing for easier and lighter transactions than those with coins like the ones shown here. The use of paper notes by merchants in China dates backs even earlier, though, to the 7th century Tang Dynasty.
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This article was produced and syndicated by MediaFeed.org.
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