Just 22% of people give themselves high scores when it comes to financial wellness

finance money wellness Feb 04, 2022

A TIAA survey conducted to evaluate Americans’ financial wellness discovered that just 22% of the respondents ages 18 and up gave themselves a 9 or a 10 on a scale of 1 to 10. The online survey was conducted between Oct. 22 and Nov. 3 of last year. It included 3,008 respondents.

21% of respondents gave themselves the lowest scores of 1 to 4. In the past two years, 37% of respondents said their financial wellness has increased, 42% said it stayed the same and 21% said it had decreased. Those who are most likely to feel confident in their financial circumstances include men and wealthy, older and retired individuals.

Most people — 78% — said they have an emergency fund. But less than half of respondents said that money would be enough to cover six months’ of expenses.

Meanwhile, 6 in 10 said they have either some or a lot of stress when it comes to their finances.

People who participated in employer-provided financial wellness programs were more likely to give themselves higher financial wellness scores, the survey found. Yet only about half of workers report having access to financial wellness help through their employer.