Twenty-nine percent of those surveyed have experienced a large, unexpected drop in income in the last year and 56 percent do not have an emergency fund.
Approximately 59 percent have not tried to figure out their retirement needs.
Another area the survey explores is financial literacy, which “remained flat, or even slightly down by some measures,” says Ketchum.
In 2009, 42 percent could answer four or five questions on a financial literacy quiz correctly. In 2012 that percentage had slipped to 38 percent. The questions were about interest rates, mortgages and stocks.
“However, we also found some encouraging signs about financial literacy,” Ketchum says. “The study shows that financial literacy correlates strongly with behavior that is indicative of financial capability,” such as having an emergency fund and having no credit card debt.
The study data can be used by policy makers and “can deepen our understanding of financial capability” across the country, Ketchum says.
The survey was developed in consultation with the U.S. Department of the Treasury, other federal agencies and the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability.