An April Gallup poll of American’s personal financial situation, two question were asked:
1) Rate your current financial situation
2) Do you have enough money to live comfortably?
Combining the answer to these 2 question, Gallup concluded that about 25% of American consider themselves living on financial edge which was defined as not having enough money to live comfortably. These folks also rate their financial situation as fair or poor.
The group does not include Social Security recipient which is good news since it would be heart breaking to spot seniors on financial edge. The poll findings are also interesting as it related to education and income. Those with college degree only 12% were living on the financial edge while folks without the high school degree or less had 46% with poor financial condition.
45% of the Americans’ rate themselves as financially fit and living comfortably. Majortity of these Americans are home owners. That’s perhaps why we have been recommending owning real estate as part of your retirement portfolio since building wealth with real estate is much easier with tax advantages and appreciation.
How would you rate your financial situation? With the recent rise of home prices we find some buyers extremely disappointed that their American dream has to be placed on hold for yet another market crash. But the neat part of using real estate for building wealth is that these cycles often repeat themselves and buyers will have another opportunity to aim at owning their own home.