Personal finances on the slide despite national upturn?

The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. (CFP for short) most recently published the results of a poll that showed that Americans are optimistic about a national economic recovery within the next half year. But as Bloomberg indicates, the bad news is that these exact same Americans lack faith in their own personal finances. Americans worry that savings, college money and retirement arrangements are simply beyond their kin. Post resource – The economy may be increasing, but what about our personal finances by Personal Money Store.

Personal finances don’t light up the headlines like recession busting

The CFP survey results indicate that 44 percent of respondents expect an upturn within the U.S. economy before their own personal finances, in contrast to 28 percent who believe a “double dip” recession will occur. CFP chair Robert Glovsky told Bloomberg that “Americans are usually hopeful, and much of the economic news leads us to conclude that we are out of the recession, and a double dip is unlikely”.

But this optimism doesn’t stick to the personal finance problem, it seems. Personal finances keep two-thirds of the CFP respondents up at night, despite the fact consumer confidence is up overall and there was a .2 percent decrease in declared unemployment from May 2010 to June 2010. Many consumers believe they need fast cash, but are frequently ineligible for a bank loan as a result of still-tight credit market. They may have found that a poor credit personel loans is a viable way out of the problem, but this doesn’t bode well if there is no future plan to deal with emergencies that prey upon personal finances.

A three-pronged personal finance nightmare

CFP survey findings from the 1,000-member sample group (aged 18 and over) showed that most feared whether they’d be able to conserve money, pay for college and prepare for a financially stable retirement. Adding to the worries surrounding their personal finances, 80 percent of respondents felt that Congress and federal regulators hadn’t taken an active enough role in pushing legislation to regulate financial markets. But soon that may be addressed by the upcoming financial reform bill.

More information

bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-13/americans-are-more-optimistic-about-economy-than-own-finances-survey-says.html

cfp.net/media/release.asp?id=253