Living paycheck-to-paycheck is a reality for millions of people today. This is the same story for people from a variety of different economic backgrounds. For example, you'll find that even some folks who are earning $100k per year still admit that they too are living paycheck-to-paycheck.
Many Americans today wouldn't be ready to deal with an emergency if one occurred.
If that emergency only cost around $400, there would be millions of people who wouldn't have the means to meet that need and they would have to turn to family or friends to help them.
The debt isn't a problem that's specific to the United States, as there are millions of people worldwide who have become accustomed to living above their means and operating under the buy now, pay later mentality.
Within the U.S. specifically, it's estimated that the average household is carrying around $137k or more in debt. The average credit card balance is around $6k and for those who are 34 and under they've been found to have an average of $67k+ in debt. Individuals between the ages of 35-64, they've got an average debt that's over $100k.
A growing number of people might be getting tired of living above their means though, as a recent Bankrate.com survey found that two-thirds of Americans are looking to limit their spending and turn back to saving for the future.
The survey found that roughly 66 percent of Americans are looking to purposefully limit their spending and about 36 percent have said it's because they want to save more; accounting for 24 percent of all survey respondents.
Other reasons that were reported for influencing the cutbacks were concerns over having too much debt, worries about the economy or job security, and because the general income for the individual hadn't changed.
The survey found that for those who were living with an annual income of $50k or less that they were more likely to admit that they were concerned about spending less so that they could save more.
As for who was most concerned about cutting back due to worries over the economy, the survey found that it was mostly those individuals who had an annual income of $30k or less, who fell into this category.
For those who are looking to aggressively limit their spending though, there are still a few things that they might splurge on.
When buying those items, they feel that the higher price is justified.
Items that they would likely change however, going for a cheaper option, include wine, take-out, and hand soap. The same study found that many respondents, about 60 percent, believed health insurance, college tuition, and concert tickets were nonsensically overpriced.
Pics:
Pixabay