Americans’ financial worries tick up in past year

Americans are more likely today than they were a year ago to report being “very” or “moderately worried” about several aspects of their finances, reversing the improvement seen last year.

People’s concern has increased the most about paying their monthly bills (up eight percentage points to 40%) and maintaining the standard of living they enjoy (up seven points to 52%). But concern has also increased, by five points, on paying one’s rent or mortgage (35%), making minimum payments on credit cards (22%) and having enough money for retirement (63%). …

Americans’ financial anxieties increased in 2020 during the unprecedented economic shutdown that occurred at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. That proved temporary, as the percentage worried abated last year. That was as business as usual was resuming across the U.S. during the rollout of coronavirus vaccines. However, with inflation surging this year, concern is now back closer to 2020 levels on several items and is even higher on two.