Personal Finance
Visualizing How the Pandemic is Impacting American Wallets
A Snapshot of U.S. Personal Finances During the Pandemic
If you’ve felt that you’ve needed to penny-pinch more during the pandemic, you’re not alone.
In the past seven months, 42% of U.S. consumers have missed paying one or more bills, while over a third (39%) believe they will need to skip payments in the future.
This visualization breaks down the state of U.S. consumers’ personal finances during the COVID-19 era, and projects into future concerns around savings.
Pandemic Personal Finances: Key Takeaways
Based on data from the doxoINSIGHTS Bills Pay Impact Report across 1,568 sampled households, three themes emerge:
- 57% of consumers’ incomes have taken a hit in the past seven months
- 70% have delayed discretionary spending on big purchases
- 75% continue to be very worried about their future financial health
How do these anxieties translate into day-to-day consequences?
Pandemic Postpones Bill Payments
Unsurprisingly, worrying about personal finances also means that more Americans are deferring their bill payments during the pandemic. However, these vary depending on the type of bill, total amount, and immediate urgency.
Over a quarter (27%) of U.S. consumers report having missed a bill on their auto loans, followed by 26% for utilities and 25% on cable or internet costs.
The average cost of the above three bill types is $258—but that’s still a fraction of the two most expensive bills, mortgage or rent, which come in at $1,268 and $1,023 respectively.
| Bill Type | $ Value | % Missed |
|---|---|---|
| Auto loans | $374 | 27% |
| Utilities | $290 | 26% |
| Cable/ Internet | $110 | 25% |
| Rent | $1,023 | 20% |
| Mobile phone | $88 | 19% |
| Mortgage | $1,268 | 17% |
| Alarm/ Security | $76 | 17% |
| Auto insurance | $181 | 15% |
| Dental insurance | $25 | 14% |
| Life insurance | $76 | 13% |
| Health insurance | $94 | 10% |
Prioritizing Payments
While 20% of Americans say they’ve missed a rent payment over the past few months, what’s even more alarming is that 28% of U.S. consumers believe they will most likely skip paying rent in the future.
| Bill Type | % Likely to Skip in Future |
|---|---|
| Cable/ Internet | 29% |
| Utilities | 28% |
| Rent | 28% |
| Auto loans | 26% |
| Mobile phone | 26% |
| Mortgage | 21% |
| Auto insurance | 21% |
| Alarm/ Security | 19% |
| Dental insurance | 16% |
| Life insurance | 17% |
| Health insurance | 15% |
Another clear trend is that many Americans are prioritizing insurance payments, particularly health insurance. This is good news during a global pandemic—only 10% have missed paying this bill type, although 15% expect to skip it in the coming months.
According to the report, some U.S. consumers seem to prioritize the bill types which come with strings attached, from late-payment penalties to accrued interest.
While missing a single payment might seem harmless, a pattern of missed payments over time have the potential to negatively impact your credit score.
Enough Savings To Stay Afloat?
Finally, Americans are wary about how much they have stashed away in the bank to weather the tumultuous months ahead.
While unemployment figures are recovering from historic troughs, the fear of losing one’s job remains prevalent. How many months’ worth of savings do U.S. consumers think they have if this were to happen?
| # Months | % Responses |
|---|---|
| 7+ months 💰💰💰💰💰💰💰 | 23% |
| 4-6 months 💰💰💰💰💰💰 | 15% |
| 1-3 months 💰💰💰 | 27% |
| <1 month 💰 | 35% |
No one knows how long the COVID-19 chaos will last. In order to adapt to this economic uncertainty, consumer priorities are shifting along with their tightened budgets.
Personal Finance
Ranked: The Best Countries to Retire In
Which countries are the best equipped to support their aging population? This graphic show the best countries to retire in around the world.
Ranked: The Best Countries to Retire in Around the World
Our global population is getting older. By 2050, the OECD predicts that 30% of people worldwide will be aged 65 or over.
While some countries are relatively prepared to handle this increase in the elderly demographic, others are already feeling the squeeze and struggling with the challenges that come with a rapidly aging population.
Which countries are the best equipped to support their senior citizens? This graphic uses data from the 2022 Natixis Global Retirement Index to show the best countries to retire in around the world, based on several different factors that we’ll dig into below.
What Makes a Country Retirement-Friendly?
When people consider what makes a place an ideal retirement location, it’s natural to think about white sand beaches, hot climates, and endless sunny days. And, in truth, the right net worth opens up a world of opportunity of where to enjoy one’s golden years.
The Global Retirement Index (GRI) examines retirement from different, more quantitative perspective. The annual report looks at 44 different countries and ranks them based on their retirement security. The index considers 18 factors, which are grouped into four overarching categories:
- Health: Health spend per capita, life expectancy, and non-insured health spend.
- Quality of Life: Happiness levels, water and sanitation, air quality, other environmental factors, and biodiversity/habitat.
- Material Wellbeing: Income per capita, income equality, and employment levels.
- Finances in Retirement: Government debt, old-age dependency, interest rates, inflation, governance, tax pressure, and bank non-performing loans.
Using these 18 metrics, a score from 0.01 to 1 is determined for each country, which is then converted to a percentage. For a more detailed explanation of the report’s methodology, explore Appendix A (page 72) of the report.
The Top 25 Best Countries to Retire in
With an overall score of 81%, Norway comes in at number one as the most retirement-friendly country on the list.
| Rank | Country | Score | Health | Quality of Life | Material Wellbeing | Finances in Retirement |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇳🇴 Norway | 81% | 91% | 87% | 79% | 69% |
| 2 | 🇨🇭 Switzerland | 80% | 90% | 86% | 69% | 74% |
| 3 | 🇮🇸 Iceland | 79% | 88% | 86% | 77% | 68% |
| 4 | 🇮🇪 Ireland | 76% | 89% | 80% | 67% | 70% |
| 5 | 🇦🇺 Australia | 75% | 88% | 77% | 66% | 72% |
| 6 | 🇳🇿 New Zealand | 75% | 85% | 81% | 64% | 71% |
| 7 | 🇱🇺 Luxembourg | 75% | 91% | 81% | 72% | 59% |
| 8 | 🇳🇱 Netherlands | 75% | 89% | 80% | 78% | 56% |
| 9 | 🇩🇰 Denmark | 74% | 86% | 88% | 76% | 54% |
| 10 | 🇨🇿 Czech Republic | 73% | 76% | 68% | 84% | 64% |
| 11 | 🇩🇪 Germany | 72% | 87% | 80% | 71% | 55% |
| 12 | 🇫🇮 Finland | 71% | 84% | 89% | 63% | 55% |
| 13 | 🇸🇪 Sweden | 71% | 90% | 87% | 59% | 56% |
| 14 | 🇦🇹 Austria | 71% | 86% | 82% | 69% | 54% |
| 15 | 🇨🇦 Canada | 71% | 87% | 74% | 58% | 67% |
| 16 | 🇮🇱 Israel | 70% | 82% | 74% | 60% | 66% |
| 17 | 🇰🇷 South Korea | 70% | 80% | 59% | 68% | 73% |
| 18 | 🇺🇸 United States | 69% | 85% | 72% | 56% | 67% |
| 19 | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | 69% | 83% | 82% | 61% | 55% |
| 20 | 🇧🇪 Belgium | 69% | 85% | 74% | 70% | 51% |
| 21 | 🇸🇮 Slovenia | 69% | 82% | 69% | 77% | 51% |
| 22 | 🇯🇵 Japan | 69% | 91% | 67% | 72% | 51% |
| 23 | 🇲🇹 Malta | 68% | 78% | 61% | 72% | 63% |
| 24 | 🇫🇷 France | 66% | 90% | 78% | 57% | 48% |
| 25 | 🇪🇪 Estonia | 66% | 68% | 68% | 60% | 68% |
Norway is at the top of this year’s ranking for several reasons. For starters, it achieved the highest score in the Health category, largely because of its high average life expectancy, which is 83 years old, or 9 years longer than the global average.
Norway also has the highest score of all the countries for Governance, a category gauged by assessing country corruption levels, political stability, and government effectiveness, and is in a three-way tie with Japan and Luxembourg in the Health category.
Second on the list is another European country, Switzerland, with an overall score of 80%. It’s the highest-ranked country for environmental factors, and it also has the highest overall score in the Finances in Retirement category.
A Regional Breakdown
While European countries dominate the top 10 in the ranking, how does Europe rank as a region as a whole? Before diving in, it’s important to note that the study actually breaks up Europe into two sections: Eastern Europe (grouped with Central Asia) and Western Europe.
| Rank | Region | Overall Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | North America | 69% |
| 2 | Western Europe | 66% |
| 3 | Eastern Europe and Central Asia | 49% |
| 4 | Latin America | 37% |
| 5 | Asia Pacific | 32% |
And from a regional perspective, North America comes in first place despite the fact no countries in the region made it into the top 10. North America only has two countries included in the ranking: Canada (#15) and the U.S. (#18), which both rank relatively high.
In contrast, Western and Eastern Europe have more countries to account for, which ultimately lowers their regional average.
The Future of Retirement
As longevity rises and the retirement aged population continues to increase worldwide, many countries are opting to change their pension policies in an effort to encourage people to stay in the workforce longer.
For instance, in 2018, people in the UK could claim their State Pension once they turned 65. By 2028, this age requirement will be raised to 67.
However, government intervention may not be necessary, as many people around the world are already staying in the workforce beyond the traditional retirement age (perhaps more out of necessity than choice).
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