Americans More Anxious About Their Finances

For each of the last six years, Gallup has asked Americans how much they worry about each of seven financial issues:

• not being able to pay medical costs for normal healthcare
• not being able to pay medical costs in the event of a serious illness or accident
• not being able to pay their rent, mortgage, or other housing costs
• not being able to maintain the standard of living they enjoy
• not being able to make the minimum payments on their credit cards
• not having enough money for retirement
• not having enough to pay their normal monthly bills

Typically, Americans have expressed the most worry about retirement and paying for medical costs in the event of a serious illness or accident. As I detailed in my recent Web story, there has been a significant increase on two more basic issues this year -- maintaining one's standard of living and having enough money to pay monthly bills. 

Overall, Americans' financial concerns are greater this year than any time in the last six years, when Gallup first started tracking these items. That is evident from looking at the "worry index" we create that summarizes concern across the seven items. The index tells how many of the seven items each respondent is "very" or "moderately worried" about, and thus ranges from zero on the low end to seven on the high end. For example, a person who worried about retirement and the two healthcare items but none of the other issues would have a score of three on this index. 

The average American is worried about 2.9 items this year, the highest mean score in the six-year history of the question. Perhaps more unnerving is that one in five Americans fall into the "high worry" category. That is, they worry about all seven or six of the seven items tested in the poll. The previous high was 17% in 2001, but it has been more typically 15% to 16%.  

Higher gas prices could be to blame for the increase. Many economists conceive of higher gas prices as a "hidden tax" on Americans because gas is more or less a necessity for Americans that they can't easily cut back on, and so it reduces their disposable income and thus their buying power. Additionally, higher gas prices often increase prices on other items such as groceries because it costs producers and distributors more to ship them to stores, with the higher prices usually passed on to the consumer. That would certainly make it harder for Americans to pay their normal monthly bills and maintain their standard of living. 

Increases in the percentage of "high worry" respondents are evident among most demographic groups. One exception is higher-income respondents, those residing in households in which the annual income is $75,000 or more. The percentage of this group falling in the high worry category is 9% compared with 7% last year. Those in middle-income households ($30,000-$74,999 annual income, 13% to 19%) have seen an increase of six points, and those residing in lower-income households (less than $30,000, 26% to 34%) saw an eight-point increase. 

While most groups show an increase, several show an above-average increase in the percentage falling into the "high worry" category. These include nonwhites (23% to 32%), pre-retirement age (50 to 64) people (from 12% to 22%), and those with children under age 18 (16% to 25%).