Short On Savings Americans Still Feeling Positive com

Short On Savings Americans Still Feeling Positive com

Short On Savings, Americans Still Feeling Positive Bankrate.com Caret RightMain Menu Mortgage Mortgages Financing a home purchase Refinancing your existing loan Finding the right lender Additional Resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Bank Banking Compare Accounts Use calculators Get advice Bank reviews Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Credit Card Credit cards Compare by category Compare by credit needed Compare by issuer Get advice Looking for the perfect credit card? Narrow your search with CardMatch Caret RightMain Menu Loan Loans Personal Loans Student Loans Auto Loans Loan calculators Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Invest Investing Best of Brokerages and robo-advisors Learn the basics Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Home Equity Home equity Get the best rates Lender reviews Use calculators Knowledge base Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Loan Home Improvement Real estate Selling a home Buying a home Finding the right agent Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Insurance Insurance Car insurance Homeowners insurance Other insurance Company reviews Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Caret RightMain Menu Retirement Retirement Retirement plans & accounts Learn the basics Retirement calculators Additional resources Elevate your Bankrate experience Get insider access to our best financial tools and content Advertiser Disclosure

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You have money questions. Bankrate has answers. Our experts have been helping you master your money for over four decades. We continually strive to provide consumers with the expert advice and tools needed to succeed throughout life’s financial journey. Bankrate follows a strict , so you can trust that our content is honest and accurate. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. The content created by our editorial staff is objective, factual, and not influenced by our advertisers. We’re transparent about how we are able to bring quality content, competitive rates, and useful tools to you by explaining how we make money. Bankrate.com is an independent, advertising-supported publisher and comparison service. We are compensated in exchange for placement of sponsored products and, services, or by you clicking on certain links posted on our site. Therefore, this compensation may impact how, where and in what order products appear within listing categories. Other factors, such as our own proprietary website rules and whether a product is offered in your area or at your self-selected credit score range can also impact how and where products appear on this site. While we strive to provide a wide range offers, Bankrate does not include information about every financial or credit product or service. Americans are feeling very secure about their personal finances, according to Bankrate’s June 2013 Financial Security Index. The index registered 102.7 in June. Not only is that a record high, it also marks the first time the index has been in positive territory for four straight months since the index’s creation in December 2010. The index came back with other positive records, too. The percentage of those feeling less secure about their jobs and those reporting lower net worth than last year hit all-time lows. Only 1 in 5 Americans felt their overall financial situation got worse versus the previous year, tying the lowest reading from April 2013. And 30 percent of consumers felt more comfortable about their debt, a new high. “As an adviser from Michigan, we haven’t seen good times since before 2001,” says Richard T. Feight, a CFP professional. “(But) finally I am hearing a little optimism from clients on their situations, many of which are starting their own companies for employment.” Recent data back up the nationwide enthusiasm. Sales of new and previously owned homes are rising, while home values are growing year over year. Job growth, while not spectacular, has been steady. Employers added 175,000 jobs in May, in line with expectations. Other measures of consumer confidence have risen along with retail spending. “I’m fielding fewer inquiries on buying gold and more about putting more money away for retirement,” says Brian Frederick, a CFP professional with Stillwater Financial Partners in Scottsdale, Ariz. “I see more people wanting to take a risk.”

Still short on savings

Where Americans could use a boost is in their savings. Americans who feel uneasy about their savings outnumber those who feel comfortable by a ratio of nearly 2-to-1, according to the index. Nearly half of those surveyed have less than three months’ worth of expenses or nothing at all in emergency savings. . “Psychologically, people think nothing bad is going to happen to them,” says Frederick. “Additionally, with interest rates being so low and the stock market doing well for the past 18 months, they feel that having a big emergency fund is not in their best interests because it doesn’t earn anything.” Since the recession, some have focused more on debt reduction rather than building savings. And other Americans have already run through their savings after a job loss, Feight says. More than a third of unemployed respondents have no emergency savings, compared with about a fifth of employed respondents. “Three months’ worth of expenses is hard to think about when you’ve been trying to find work for so long,” says Feight. “People who (are) unemployed or underemployed are just trying to get by.” Related Links: Save big with a backyard garden Related Articles:
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