Money problems entail a family’s or an individual’s inability to secure adequate financial resources to meet essential needs for a healthy social, emotional and physical wellbeing.
The top 5 money problems facing Americans are as follows:
- Job loss
This is one of the most serious problem faced by a large number of American individuals and households. Even though billions of dollars may be offered by the government in form of stimulus money and unemployment benefits, the economy continues to lose jobs at a disturbing rate. That means many individuals and family heads find themselves unemployed or underemployed.
This also means unemployment and underemployment leads to inability to secure financial services and solutions like:
• Loans
• Mortgage
• Credit facilities
• Insurance cover
- Health care costs
Health care spending in the United States is likely to reach $4.8 trillion by 2021. This is a huge figure compared to $2.6 trillion in 2010 and $75 billion in 1970. To break this down, we will spend nearly 20 percent of our gross domestic product (GDP) which is also equivalent to one-fifth of the U.S. economy by 2021 on healthcare alone.
So why is the American health care cost so high?
As stated by the National Health Expenditure data, the increase in premiums is directly traced with the cost of medical care. This trend has been steady for decades. Also, compared to other Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, (OECD) nations, U.S hospitals are clearly spending more than 60 percent compared to other OECD nations. It is estimated that what hospitals spend on dentists, physicians and specialists is almost two and a half times higher than it is in the other OECD countries.
- Living beyond one’s means
According to a Gallup poll, one of the biggest financial issues Americans are facing is lack of enough money to make ends meet. This is due to the desire of many Americans today to enjoy a lifestyle which is beyond what their can afford. As a result, Americans may end up facing a lot of stress and other social, emotional and health problems, which in return may end up causing more financially related problems like medical bills and debts. Simplifying the way of living and learning to live on less with proper budgeting is the best way forward.
- Poor decisions on purchases and investments
Very often individuals and families make common mistakes when making huge purchases and investment decisions.
This may include:
• Not consulting a specialist to assist you through the entire process of making purchases and investments. This may mean talking to a property investment adviser, an motorist expert, mortgage broker, accountant, conveyance expert, property manager and also a financial adviser.
• Making huge purchases and investment decisions on the grounds of emotional rather than logic and professional research
• Purchasing expensive and incorrect type of goods or property which end up not meeting the most important needs.
• Securing the wrong financial goods and services due to lack of research or proper consultation.
- Debt
Taking a look at the American Household Credit Card Debt Statistics of 2014, an average American household’s credit card debt is $15,607. This is a count of only those households with debt. The Federal Reserve statistics states that the average American household owes $7,281 according to analysis.
