Why Americans Are Actually Broke! (2024 Edition)

It’s easy to put all the blame of our finances on the economic factors working against us right now: the lasting affects of high-inflation, low housing affordability, and more. Those have their impact, but we want to dig deeper than that. Because as financial advisors and people that have been around to see Americans in good times and bad, we recognize that there are some persistent behaviors that need to be fixed.

Research and resources from this episode:

• Survey of Consumer Finances, 1989 – 2022
• More than a quarter of indebted millennials said they didn’t know what they were signing up for with their student loans
• Survey: Majority of Student Loan Borrowers Don’t Know How Interest or Forgiveness Works
• Average Time to Repay Student Loans
• 2017 Survey: Nearly Half of Students Aren’t Taught About Credit Cards Before Getting One
• 63% of Americans think personal finance education belongs in school
• Key insights on credit card debt holders earning rewards
• State of the Automotive Finance Market Q4 2023
• Planning and progress study 2023
• Propensity to Plan: A Key to Health and Wealth?
• Over Half of Americans Make This Serious Mistake With Their Financial Planning
• 2021 Couples & Money Study
• Question of the Day: What percent of Americans have reported spending beyond their monthly budget?
• Americans are still splurging on travel and entertainment — even as credit card debt tops $1 trillion

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