CNBC|Momentive poll: financial literacy 2022

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CNBC|Momentive poll: financial literacy 2022

The overwhelming majority of Americans fear higher prices will force them to rethink their financial choices in the coming months.

Brianna Richardson

April 5, 2022 | 6 min read

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Key findings:

  • Amid high prices, Americans face cutbacks: mostly on dining out (53%) and driving (39%)  
  • Most (52%) say they’re under more financial stress now than a year ago 
  • 81% say the U.S. will likely face a recession in 2022, as most disapprove (61%) of the way Biden is handling inflation 
  • Majority of parents (83%) say parents are responsible for teaching children finances, yet 31% say they “never” talk to their children about household finances

Higher prices have most cutting back

Amid high prices, Americans are cutting back: most (53%) say higher prices have caused them to cut back on dining out in the last six months, while 39% say they’ve cut back on driving, canceled a monthly subscription (35%) or switched from a brand-name product to a generic one (32%). 

  • Democrats are almost twice as likely as Republicans to say they haven’t cut back on anything in the last six months (18% vs. 10%) 

Should higher prices persist, most say they’ll consider cutting back on dining out (52%) or driving (42%) followed by canceling a vacation (40%) or a monthly subscription (36%).  

Americans-consider-cutting-back-on-dining-out-driving-amid-higher-prices

The overwhelming majority of adults (76%) say they’re worried higher prices will force them to rethink their financial choices in the coming months. 

  • Seniors 65+ are least concerned: 64% are worried higher prices will force them to rethink their financial choices vs. adults 18-34 (77%) and 35-64 (81%)
  • Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say they’re worried higher prices will force them to rethink their financial choices (85% vs. 68%) 

Concerns run high as almost half (48%) of adults say they think about rising prices “all the time”. Over four in 10 (44%) say they think about rising prices “sometimes” or occasionally” while only a few say they “rarely” (5%) or “never” (1%) think of rising prices.

  • 55% of those with household income under $50,000 say they think of rising prices “all the time” vs. 45% of people in households with income between $50,000 and $100,000 and 40% of people with household incomes in the six figures or higher 
About-how-often-do-you-think-about-rising-prices-these-days-1

Yet, adults who say they have an “excellent” or “good” understanding of financial literacy are slightly less worried higher prices will force them to rethink their financial choices (75%) compared with those who say they have a “fair” or a “poor” understanding (81%). 

Most are under more financial stress now than a year ago

Just over half (52%) of adults say they are under more financial stress now than a year ago; 25% say they are under less stress and 21% say their stress level is unchanged. 

  • Seniors 65+ are more likely to report that they’re under about the same amount of financial stress now as before (28%) vs. adults age 18-34 (16%) and 35-64 (21%) 
  • Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say they’re under more financial stress now than a year ago (63% vs. 44%) 
  • 57% of those with household income under $50,000 say they’re under more financial stress now than a year ago, vs. 53% of people in households with income between $50,000 and $100,000 and 45% of people with household incomes in the six figures or higher

For some, the financial stress is constant: 25% say they’ve felt financially stressed “all the time” over the last year while 41% say they’ve felt financially stressed “sometimes”, 21% “rarely” felt financially stressed and 12% say they’ve “never” felt financially stressed over the last year. 

  • Young and middle-age adults are feeling it most: 30% of those 18-34 and 27% of those 35-64 say they’ve felt financially stressed “all the time” vs. just 11% of those 65+ 

Two in 10 (21%) say gas prices have caused them the most financial stress over the last year followed by housing costs (16%) and food costs (13%). Few (4%) are likely to cite student loans or child care costs (2%) as financial stressors. Where there are differences, they are mostly partisan: Republicans are more than twice as likely as Democrats to cite gas prices as their biggest financial stressor (32% vs. 13%). 

Which-of-the-following-has-caused-you-the-MOST-financial-stress-over-the-last-12-months

Recession concerns set in

Almost all adults (81%) say the U.S. economy will likely experience a recession in 2022. 

  • 91% of Republicans say a recession will likely occur vs. 73% of Democrats and 81% of independents 
  • Those who say they’ve been under more financial stress in the last year are more likely to say a recession will occur (88%) vs. those who are under less financial stress (73%)  or about the same amount of financial stress as before (75%) 

This comes as 6 in 10 adults (61%) say they disapprove of the way President Biden is handling inflation, almost 10 points lower than Biden’s overall approval rating (52% disapprove; 45% approve). 

  • Almost all Republicans (93%) say they disapprove of the way President Biden is handling inflation vs. 28% of Democrats and 71% of independents 
Do-you-approve-or-disapprove-of-the-way-Joe-Biden-is-handling-inflation

While most Americans feel the burden of ongoing economic woes at home, most aren’t personally feeling the impact of conflict abroad. Over 4 in 10 (46%) say the war between Russia and Ukraine has only affected their personal finances “a little”, while 30% say it’s had no impact at all. Only 20% say the war has affected their personal finances “a lot”. 

Majority say parents should teach children finances, yet some don’t 

The overwhelming majority (83%) of parents with children under 18 say parents are most responsible for teaching children about finances. Just 8% say high school teachers are responsible while even fewer (4%) put the responsibility on elementary school teachers or college professors (3%).  

Yet a full 3 in 10 (31%) parents say they “never” talk to their children about household finances; 40% of parents say they talk on a monthly basis or less and just a few say they talk once a week (13%) or more than once a week (15%) .

How-often-do-you-talk-to-your-children-about-your-household-finances

Most parents say the pandemic has not impacted how often they talk to their children about household finances: 55% say they talk to their children at about the same frequency as before, while far fewer (31%) say they talk with their children about finances more now. Only 13% say they’re talking to their children about finances less often than they did before the pandemic.

  • 17% of Black parents and 16% of Hispanic parents say they talk to their children about household finances less than they did before the pandemic, almost double that of white parents (9%) 
  • 20% of people in households with incomes under $50,000 say they talk to their children about household finances less than they did prior to the pandemic. That’s twice the rate among people with household incomes from $50K-$99,999 (10%) and even higher than the rate among people with household incomes of $100K or more (3%).  

The majority of parents (55%) don’t give their children an allowance. Among the 44% who do: 61% give their children $20 or less; 27% give their children more than $20, but less than $50 and just 10% say they give their children more than $50.

  • 73% of white parents give their children $20 or less vs. 57% of Hispanic parents and 48% of Black parents 
  • 73% of parents with household incomes of $100K or more say they give their children $20 of less vs. 60% of parents with incomes under $50,000 and 58% of parents with incomes $50K-$99,999

Read more about our polling methodology here

Click through all the results in the interactive toplines below:

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