The REAL Reasons Why Millions Are Living Paycheck to Paycheck (Shocking Statistics) 

More and more people might face a tough time in retirement. Low-paying jobs, inflation, and high rents make it hard to save. Now, middle-class Americans find it tough to own a home too, leaving them without a place to retire.

Money management is a skill that is not talked about enough..doesn’t matter how much money you make or have if you can’t mange it correctly

I've had people that are living in poverty tell me they don't want a better paying job because it's too stressful.... this is while they are constantly stressing about how to pay their bills.

100% lack of financial education.

A whole lot of people LOOOOOOOVE'S to live beyond their means. Number one reason for those living paycheck to paycheck

I didn't become financially independent until I was in my late 40's, and I'm still in my 40's. In addition to having purchased my second home and earning money on a monthly basis through passive income, I've also achieved three out of five goals. I just hope this inspires someone to realize that it doesn't matter if you don't have any of these things yet, you can start today no matter your age. Change your future by investing! I made a rather big decision by investing in the financial market

The avg. American is having a tough time, I know I am not alone. There are others in same position as me. By certain statistics: 22% of americans have no retirement savings. 64% are worried that they will not have money in latter years while 47% of adults who are not yet retired think they have to work part-time in retirement. How can I best grow the 100k I have saved seperately outside retirement access which of course had depleted over the years?

I work with a young guy. “21” and he complains about not having any money. He also comes to work everyday “almost everyday 🙄” with a couple drinks he grabbed from the gas station, rarely packs his lunch so goes to fast food, tells me about the new video game he’s playing.. etc etc.. I’ve tried to explain it to him but he just thinks he doesn’t make enough money. I don’t think he ever will.

I live paycheck to paycheck: I have 4 streaming services, best internet service offered in my area, top of the line iPhone, newish car, go out to eat multiple times a week, party with my friends multiple times a month, and go to movies, concerts, and movies regularly, my fridge is full of beer and wine, and my 2 pack a day habit, not to mention a few illegal things I spend money on, and of course I need that big vacation every year..........

I'm surprised that content creator hasn't gotten torn to shreds in the comments for daring to suggest that a lack of budgeting and personal responsibility plays a large role in this outcome. Dave Ramsey says the same thing and people go ballistic on him for daring to suggest that living above your means is a bad thing.

i’ve been grappling with financial instability, constantly feeling like I'm on a tightrope, with bills piling up and barely making ends meet between paychecks.

I really appreciate the dedication in each video you post. To be successful one has to have multiple income streams and so on, also investors should understand the crossover between asset classes & liquidity flow, Ann Elizabeth Messer focuses on Multi-asset trading, a single strategy to manage risk, profit, and the code or the actual decision-making across multi-asset classes. Her skills set is top notch

Can't understand how people can stand living paycheck to paycheck when they're also paying for Netflix and going out to eat all the time. I'd be sleeping on the floor eating ramen noodles until I got an emergency fund

Dining out should not be an everyday activity. That’s what a lunchbox, Thermos, and a stove are for. Dining out should be, at best, a quarterly event (IOW, four times a year). Just doing this will improve finances a lot.

Learn to be frugal like our ancestors and you will be ok

Always money for cell phones,star bucks,new cars, fancy bars. No wonder.

Bad choices, Wasteful spending, Poor Self Control !

Jobs will keep you poor. Hard work gets you nowhere, that's an outdated concept. Build resume, work overtime, save money - are all a waste of time/energy. Inflation will make your pension(s) worthless. People stay at jobs because it's "safe", the consequence, just surviving. People stay at jobs because they don't want to leave their comfort zone. Jobs give you a raise (crumbs) once a year just to shut you up. If you remain at a job you can't be grumbling that you poor, it's your fault. Blame the economy, your boss, the president......everyone but yourself. No accountability. Don't believe me on all this? Stay at a job then.

The average American wastes money, see it every day. They will pay $5 for an item at a store when the same is at another store in the same parking lot for $1.50. I used to work with a guy who would save up for a vacation every year saving up 10% of his salary, he could barely pay his bills because of this decision.

I VERY RARELY eat out these days. In fact, I don't remember the last time I did. There are some very delicious frozen meals in the grocery store that only cost $2-4 each and only take about 6 minutes of prep time in the microwave to cook. Stop eating out so much America!

Success depends on the actions or steps you take to achieve it. Building wealth involves developing good habits like regularly putting money away in intervals for solid investments. Financial management is a crucial topic that most tend to shy away from, and ends up haunting them in the near future.., I pray that anyone who reads this will be successful in life!!

Most people get used to living a certain way when times are good and money is cheap. When things change as they inevitably do, they're not willing to scale back their spending. Many of the same vehicles that are in the line getting the food handouts at the churches so they have meals for their families are the same vehicles you see in the Starbucks drive thru line everyday.

Every month I have an “unexpected emergency”. Must have an emergency fund!

Life style buying what the can’t afford, for many at the higher levels.

Thank you for this straightforward video. I often get pointers from videos like this. All the best to us all 😊✨✨

How many of these people have a second job? When we were broke we worked ot and had 2 jobs.

This problem can easily be fixed... find a job that pays more. It will likely result in longer hours, more stress, less fun and interesting work, and likely stretch you outside your comfort zone. If you want more money, it often means more work.

Just think about this: $13 dollars a day spent on coffee and needless things if invested would be 75K in 10 years

Investing consistently and minimalism offers an easy path to riches.

Financial ‘emergencies’, also called unexpected expenses, are just a fact of life and happen to everybody. That’s why you need have your regular necessities of life, like housing, transportation, groceries, etc. below your income and also have an amount you set aside in a money market account (my current MMA interest rate is 5.4%) to cover ‘emergencies’ plus expenses like insurance premiums. Setting aside money for unexpected expenses (which hits everybody) should be be part of your monthly expenses, otherwise you’ll need to use credit cards with come with super high interest rates to pay for these expenses.

78%???? Incontheivable!

Funny how that percentage aligns with divorce rate !! Divorce is close to being the # 1 cause of financial destruction . Be wise my friends and men should wait til they are 35 yrs old before even considering making that unpredictable decision.

The system is broken and requires a radical transformation to prioritize human well-being, social equality, and sustainability over corporate greed and profit maximization.

My girlfriend and I are very much living paycheck to paycheck right now to pay off debt. We are putting every dime we can towards it. Living paycheck to paycheck can at times be helpful depending on your situation.

Adding "expected emergencies" to my budget helps keep things on track. For example, I budget $5,000 for vet bills for my dogs and assume that'll hit me once every 5 years -- that works out to $1,000 per year for my budget. That's separate from the budget items for their regular vet bills and food. The same goes for car repairs if I'm at the point in my car buying cycle where my car has a lot of miles on it. For other folks it might be knowing they've had a root canal in the past and might need one in the future, so they budget $3,000 every 10 years. The bottom line is a lot of emergencies aren't really unexpected, they're just less frequent expenses. But that doesn't mean they shouldn't have a home in your budget.

Maybe capital should start paying labor the productivity increases it's been pocketing since 1981 . . .

I have no credit cards and no loans for the past 14 years which means no debt. The debit card will set you free! Its not about how much you earn, but rather how much you keep. 😊

I'm starting to plan and save for a trip next summer. My boss said you have investments so you don't need to save. This attitude is why she is a financial disaster who is in deep trouble when she retires

I just saw the start. One of the answer that immediatly come into my mind. May be ... the wages are to low?

Hmmm. Expenses going up at the rate of inflation while wages grow slower than inflation. There is no mystery here

They're buying things they don't need to impress people that aren't relevant. Nuff said. Live on less than what you make and save and invest the rest. Boom... your now wealthy

Most of it is that they are spending a lot of money compared to previous generations. Even if we exclude housing from the equation, the current generation still spends way more on junk than the previous generations ever did. And its because of that unwillingness to give up or cut back on their standard of life, that they make bad financial decisions and live on the end of homelessness.

I was living paycheck to paycheck for a while because I dumped every extra penny into my house payment. Paid off the house in 12 years. Funny how much money you have when you dump your biggest monthly payment. Then I dumped money into retirement and retired at 60.

“High bills are a direct consequence of financial choices that might not align with their income”. Say that again and again.

Most people are just trying to emulate what they see on TV, movies and social media. They subconsciously normalize what they see and rationalize living beyond their means. If we saw on TV, movies etc. what should be the average, it wouldn't be entertaining at all. It would be depressing.

Property taxes and insurance are killing me. In 2004, we were paying $3900 yearly, this year $12000, and just got a notification that it's going up again. If you add up taxes and insurance, they are higher than my mortgage! I'm paying 3k monthly, and my mortgage is only $1200 of that. We're old, and we'd sell, but even a small crappy house here costs 3k to rent.

Personal Financial Management should be a required class to graduate from high school. There should also be a second elective course in personal financial management that builds off of the first. So many people in America are basically financially illiterate and because of that illiteracy they have very little idea how to manage their personal finances, which gets them in trouble. At some point this rampant financial illiteracy becomes society-at-large’s problem.

Well off 2:27 here, I still drive an 08 prius, other car 14 prius...house paid, no debt....don't live beyond your means, invest well.

Truth

They are saving too much for retirement and kids college. Thats why.

The budgeting and planning point is the key. You really cannot blame high bills if you haven't been keeping track of where you are spending money, and taken a hard look at what Wants you can spend less on. The solution might also be to spend less on Needs, e.g., sell your expensive car and get a less-expensive car, or move to a less-expensive apartment when the lease is up, or get a housemate. Yes, having a low income can be the problem, but half of people earning six figures are also living paycheck-to-paycheck. For a lot of people, it's not the income -- it's the spending.

Being broke is the new normal now.

Your thumbnail design is impressive, but I'd like to create some for free. I need it for my portfolio to showcase on Upwork.

As usual by looking at the comments people seem to think this is an overall problem with the individual & not a systems problem. You eventually got to the real issue: wages not keeping pace with inflation & rising prices, like for the past 30 years or more. You're really gonna tell me that 75% of the U.S. populace has budgeting & personal spending problems? I'm sure the billionaires in this country, who pay way less tax than y'all, would love for you to keep believing that.

Takes to long to get to the point. I found better advice in the comment section.

Getting divorced and avoiding woman has made me financially stable and maybe now I can retire someday, follow me for more retirement advice lol

I wonder how the Biden family is doing?

The avg. American is having a tough time, I know I am not alone. There are others in same position as me. By certain statistics: 22% of americans have no retirement savings. 64% are worried that they will not have money in latter years while 47% of adults who are not yet retired think they have to work part-time in retirement. How can I best grow the 100k I have saved separately outside retirement access which of course had depleted over the years?