Key findings:
- At least half of adults globally are stressed about personal finances, with inflation as the leading financial stressor among adults.
- Many adults feel financially worse off than their parents, and parents are similarly pessimistic about their children’s future financial prospects.
- Concerns over retirement are widespread, with half of adults globally report falling behind schedule on retirement planning and savings. A majority of adults anticipate relying on the government to some extent during retirement.
Inflation is the leading financial stressor among adults globally
More adults point to inflation as a source of their financial stress than any other contributor, including lack of savings, economy-wide instability, aging, and rising interest rates. Six in ten or more adults in the US (65%), Australia (62%), France (62%), and Germany (66%), and around half in Singapore (46%), Mexico (56%), the UK (51%), Spain (55%), and Switzerland (48%) cite rising prices as a contributing factor of financial stress.
- A lack of savings is also a leading cause of financial stress for all countries except for France.
- Economy-wide stability is a top source of financial stress for all countries except for Australia, Singapore, and Switzerland.
- Stress from medical or healthcare bills are a leading contributor of financial stress for adults in Singapore (33%), France (28%), and Switzerland (37%).
At least half of adults globally are stressed about personal finances
Seven in ten adults in the US (70%), Mexico (73%), Australia (70%), and Spain (72%) say they are ‘very or somewhat stressed’ about their personal finances. Only 49% of adults in Singapore report the same level of stress, while Spain’s northern neighbors experience varying degrees of personal financial stress:
- 63% of adults in the UK say they are stressed about their personal finances.
- 57% of adults in Germany and 55% in Switzerland are stressed about their personal finances.
- France sees the lowest percentage of adults reporting financial stress, with only 48% saying they are ‘very or somewhat stressed’.
Adults in Mexico and Singapore are optimistic about their financial situations, while the majority of adults are much less optimistic about their prospects in other countries
Nearly half of adults in Mexico (47%) and Singapore (49%) say their financial situation is better off now than five years ago, nearly twice the amount of those who say they are worse off (20% and 25%, respectively). Adults in all other countries who report a decline in their financial situation over the past 5 years outnumber those who report an improvement:
- Half of adults in Australia (51%), Germany (51%), and the UK (51%) say that their financial situation is worse off now compared with 5 years ago, compared to three in ten or fewer who report an improvement (29% in Australia, 25% in Germany, and 27% in the UK).
- Slightly less than half of adults in the US (45%), France (42%), and Switzerland (44%) say that their financial situation is worse off now compared with 5 years ago.
Economic optimism also trends similarly across countries: the majority of adults in Mexico (74%) and Singapore (79%) are ‘very or somewhat optimistic’ about where their country’s economy is heading. Switzerland is the only European country surveyed where the majority are optimistic, at 57%. Nearly two in three adults in the UK (63%), Spain (64%), France (62%), and Germany (66%) are ‘very or somewhat pessimistic’ about their country’s economic prospects. Adults in the US are split in their optimism (49% are optimistic, 51% are pessimistic).
Parents who expect their children to outperform them financially are in the minority across all countries, except for those in the US, Mexico and Singapore
The US, Mexico, and Singapore are the sole countries with the majority of parents expressing optimism toward their children’s financial futures:
- 75% of parents in Mexico feel their children will be financially better off than they are, compared with 59% in the US and 57% of parents in Singapore.
- Parents in the UK who think their children will be better off (45%) outnumber the percentage of parents who think their children will be worse off (29%) or about the same (25%).
- Optimism is lowest among parents in Spain and France:
- 43% of parents in France think their children will be worse off than they are, while only 27% think they will be better off, and 29% think they will be financially similar.
- 42% of parents in Spain think their children will be worse off than they are, compared to 32% who think they will be better off, and 26% who think they will be at the same level financially.
- While Switzerland and Germany see a higher percentage of parents expecting their kids to be financially better off than worse off (39% and 29% for Switzerland, 39% and 28% for Germany), about one in three in both countries (32% for Switzerland, 33% for Germany) expect their children to be financially similar to them.
Parents prioritize job security as key to their children’s financial success
Parents across all countries except for those in Mexico view their children obtaining a secure job as the most important factor in ensuring financial success, ahead of having a fully-funded education, inheritance, free housing, companionship, and estate planning.
- Half of parents in Australia (50%), the UK (49%), Spain (55%), France (47%), and Germany (51%) view having job security as most impactful on their children’s financial success.
- Four in ten parents in the US (43%), Singapore (42%), and Switzerland (43%) view their children’s career stability as the most important factor in their financial success.
- 30% of parents in Mexico point to having a secure job as the leading contributor to their children's future financial success, tied with having a fully-funded education (31%).
Read more about our polling methodology here.
Click through all the results in the interactive toplines below:
