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Americans are the most optimistic about their finances: research

 Klarna surveyed over 9,000 consumers across the US, the UK, Australia, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Norway, Finland, and Sweden

Americans

Americans are the most optimistic about their finances: research. Source: pexels.com

According to Klarna, almost half of Americans are optimistic about their own personal financial future. They plan to save more money than usual, compared to residents of eight countries in Europe, the UK, and Australia.

The data found that 49% of Americans believe that their personal finances will improve in a year, making the US the most optimistic country of all nine countries surveyed. Young American consumers are particularly confident about their own financial future.

In fact, 65% of Gen Z (18-25) and 59% of millennials (25-40) believe their personal finances will improve in a year. Only 11% of respondents believe that it will be worse for them.

With the continued rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine and the gradual reopening of businesses nationwide, there is growing optimism about the economy among US consumers. Now that we’re in the second year of the pandemic, it’s great to see that people have a positive outlook as we look to the year ahead 
David Sykes, Head of US and Canada at Klarna

Australia and Norway were tied with the second highest levels of optimism at 40%, while Sweden’s consumers had the least optimistic outlook for their financial future at only 19%.

Klarna also unveiled that 32% of Americans say they plan to save more money than usual in April, while Gen Z (51%) and Millennials (42%) are looking to save the most. On the other hand, only 24% of Gen X respondents (41-56) say the same thing, and 18% of Americans do not save money at all.

Among those who invest, Gen Z (42%) and millennials (40%) are more likely to invest than older generations such as Gen X (32%) and baby boomers aged 57 to 75 (26%). In general, about 9% of Americans said they invest in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, higher than any other country surveyed.

The number of consumers who actively invest their money in comparison with conventional savings accounts is proportionally lower in the US (34%) compared to other markets surveyed, especially in the northern countries of Sweden (54%), Norway (41%) and Finland (42%).

When it comes to payment methods, the majority (54%) of US consumers choose to pay with a credit or debit card. Indeed, the US has the second-highest credit card penetration after the UK, with 61% of US consumers saying they have a credit card. Nevertheless, there are notable differences between age groups, where only 47% of Gen Z have a credit card, compared to 56% of Gen X and 66% of Baby Boomers.

We’ve reported that Over 60% of consumers more concerned about fraud since COVID-19.

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