A recent study indicates that Americans are in an almost perpetual state of worry and anxiety over their financial situation. In the study, 85% of interviewees felt financial anxiety in some form. Also, 70% said it impacted their home life and 51% saw it negatively change their social life.
Here are the top 5 sources of the financial anxiety, according to the study’s participants:
- Unplanned emergency (38%)
- Unplanned medical expense due to illness (34%)
- Insufficient savings to retire (32%)
- Outliving my retirement savings (21%)
- Becoming a financial burden (20%)
The study can be summed up this way: we fear what we do not know. This makes sense; if you’re uncertain as to whether you can financially withstand an unplanned emergency, or have the ability to retire, that can create unease.
Do any of these worries sound familiar? The best approach to ease your worries is to plan ahead and re-examine that plan on an annual basis. A trusted advisor, such as a fee-only financial planner, will work through these types of scenarios with you and help you build a plan in advance. This plan should be reviewed annually to assess if you’re on track or whether circumstances have changed.
Lance Gunkel, CFP®, CFA
Chief Investment Officer
