smart spending

Feb. 2011: Financial Security

Q:

Compared to 12 months ago, do you feel your overall financial situation is:

Better today	The recession has been over for nearly two years, but the number of people who feel they're better off shrank from 27 percent in January to 24 percent.
Worse today	The number of people who feel they're worse off rose from 27 percent in January to 31 percent.
Only 12 percent of people over 65 feel they're better off.

Ken Thomas

"It will take several years for us to fully recover ..."

Yes, Virginia, the ''Great Recession'' was officially over in June 2009, but this was not your father's recession! It was the longest and deepest recession since the Great Depression. Like a heavyweight fighter knocked to the mat by a huge blow, it will take several years for us to fully recover in terms of lost jobs. To make matters worse, there has been no sustained recovery of the housing market (the main source of wealth for most people). So, yes, there is good reason why nearly one in three people feels worse off. In fact, I would not be surprised if this percentage increased further this year.

- Ken Thomas, finance lecturer at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania