- Many Americans struggling to get by despite strong economy, By Sarah Skidmore (AP), August 28, 2018, Chicago Sun-Times: “Despite a strong economy, about 40 percent of American families struggled to meet at least one of their basic needs last year, including paying for food, health care, housing or utilities. That’s according to an Urban Institute survey of nearly 7,600 adults that found that the difficulties were most prevalent among adults with lower incomes or health issues. But it also revealed that people from all walks of life were running into similar hardships…”
- 40% of Americans struggle to pay for at least one basic need like food or rent, By Quentin Fottrell, August 31, 2018, MarketWatch: “Many people still struggle to pay bills — even for something as basic as food. That’s the difficult conclusion of a new report released this week by the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan, nonprofit policy group based in Washington, D.C., which surveyed almost 7,600 adults last December…”
- Cost of living increasing at fastest rate in 10 years, August 10, 2018, CBS News: “Consumer prices climbed 2.9 percent in July from a year earlier, a rate of inflation that suggests Americans are earning less than a year ago despite an otherwise solid economy. The Labor Department said Friday that the consumer price index ticked up 0.2 percent in July. Annual inflation matched the 2.9 percent pace from June, which had been the highest level since February 2012. Core prices, which exclude the volatile food and energy categories, rose 0.2 percent in June and 2.4 percent from a year earlier…”
Tag: Financial security
Financial Literacy
It’s hard to manage your credit when you’ve never heard of ‘interest’, By Marsha Mercer, August 7, 2018, Stateline: “When Kentucky state Treasurer Allison Ball and a colleague talked with high school seniors last year about credit cards and other pieces of the personal finance puzzle, something wasn’t right. “We kept using the word ‘interest’ and we kept getting blank stares,” Ball recalled. Finally, she asked the students who knew what interest is. No one did…”
Retirement Security
Think income inequality is bad? Retirement inequality may be worse., By Mike Maciag, March 2018, Governing: “For years, salon owner Luke Huffstutter, of Portland, Ore., wanted to offer his employees a way to save for retirement. Costs were too steep for the small company, though, and few employees took the initiative to set up 401(k) plans on their own. But last summer, Oregon launched a retirement savings program that automatically enrolls employees in Roth IRAs, the first such state-sponsored program in the nation. Huffstutter signed up, and most of his 38 employees are now enrolled…”