New York Life has officially published results from its 2025 New Year Outlook Wealth Watch survey, which discovers that, even with all the ongoing financial pressures, financial confidence among American consumers continues to be at optimal levels.
Going by the available details, 64% of adults remain confident in their ability to meet their financial goals, reflecting the same level of confidence as late 2023.
More on the same would reveal how a large chunk of the respondents were found to be aggressive in setting and reaching their savings goals this past year. To relay that in numbers, adults aimed to save $8,505.89 on average and actually saved $7,460.94 ($1,045 gap). Now, while the realized number does fall short of what was targeted, it still makes for a slight improvement, as compared to 2023, when adults aimed to save $7,435.57 and saved $6,138.06 on average ($1,298 gap).
Markedly enough, over half (52%) of adults who work with a financial professional reported feeling more financially secure now than they did at the end of 2023, compared to just over a quarter (27%) of adults who do not work with a financial professional
Talk about the given report on a slightly deeper level, we begin from how the top three words adults used to describe their finances at the end of 2024 were hopeful (33%), stressed (33%), and anxious (28%).
Next up, we must dig into how millennials would end up saving almost double the average American’s saving, hitting $12,004.87. Gen Xers took the second place at $7,463.17. Moving on, if we focus on retirement, only 19% of adults reported having a retirement strategy, and fewer adults report having retirement savings compared to late 2023 (36% vs 41%), Against that, most adults who do have retirement savings are confident that their retirement savings will last the rest of their lives (67%).
Not just retirement, adults are also preparing for the unexpected, as forty-seven percent reported to have a fund or savings set aside specifically for an emergency, with an average of $18,483.04 saved, up from $15,027.74 at the end of 2023.
“Americans are faced with ongoing change and uncertainty, which can make planning challenging,” said Jessica Ruggles, corporate vice president of Financial Wellness at New York Life. “Consumers are looking for security and control, especially when it comes to their finances. Our data has shown people who work with financial professionals tend to feel more secure and are more likely to have a financial strategy in place, inclusive of retirement savings and debt management. The new year is a great opportunity to adopt and adjust a financial strategy.”
Another detail worth a mention here is rooted how an estimated 49% of adults said inflation impacted their finances the most during 2024, followed by credit card debt (26%) and cost of housing (21%). This trend is likely to continue, with adults predicting that, in 2025, inflation (54%) will remain a top concern for their finances, as well as credit card debt (23%) and fears of a recession (21%).
Contextualizing that concern further is a contingent of more than sixty-seven percent adults who reported having some form of debt. The top sources for this debt were credit card debt (40%), mortgage or home equity debt (18%), and medical debt (18%).
To expand further upon, adults with credit card debt owe an average of $8,295.31, slightly more than the average amount owed by adults in 2023 ($7,931.80). As for those with credit card debt, they are contributing an average of $491.28 per month towards paying it down, reflecting an increase compared to the end of 2023 when they were contributing an average of $363.07 each month.
A generation-focused lowdown would reveal that Gen Xers lead the pack in credit card debt, owing $10,140.99 on average, compared to Gen Zers at $2,990.13, Millennials at $6,859.13, and Baby Boomers, at $9,502.40.
“The new year is a great opportunity to adopt and adjust a financial strategy to adequately support unique needs. This may include working with a trusted financial professional to understand household goals and priorities, address barriers to wellbeing like debt, and adopt a protection mindset,” said Ruggles.
