Along with a new year will come new financial goals and for most, the outlook isn’t too bright.
But as 2022 comes to a close, there’s not much optimism next year will be brighter financially.
A new report from Bankrate.com finds 66% of Americans do not expect their personal finances to get better in 2023.
“Households overwhelmingly say that they don’t expect their finances to improve,” said Greg McBride, the company’s Chief Financial Analyst.
About 27% of Americans expect their finances to worsen and 36% say they expect them to stay the same, according to the survey. Just 34% said they expected their personal finances to improve.
The majority of people who are pessimistic about their finances blame inflation — that was cited by 63% of respondents.
Another 29% said low wages are to blame and 27% pointed to changing interest rates.
Despite the bleak outlook, younger groups including Gen Z and millennials tended to be more optimistic.
A total of 48% of Gen Z and millennials said they expected to see their finances improve. When it comes to older generations, including Gen Xers and Baby Boomers, there was a “particular inclination not to expect finances to improve next year,” added McBride.
When setting financial goals for the new year, 19% of those surveyed want to pay down debt and 16% hope to budget better.
Padding your savings is important and keep in mind the cost of borrowing. “Things like credit cards or even home equity liens of credit, the cost of that has increased pretty substantially so focus on paying down and paying off your highest cost debt,” says McBride.
The Bankrate survey was carried out by YouGov between Nov. 15-18 with a total sample size of more than 3,600 U.S. adults.
