Seven in 10 U.S. consumers see an economic downturn ahead, assuming one hasn’t already started. But awareness doesn’t equal preparedness — two in three admit they aren’t ready for what they think is coming, according to a survey from MagnifyMoney, a personal finance website.
“When you are living paycheck to paycheck and seeing everything around you go up in price by the day, it can be really scary,” said Matt Schultz, chief credit analyst at LendingTree, which owns MagnifyMoney. “You know you don’t have a lot of wiggle room to pay bills. We are seeing some of that fear in this survey.”
People are clearly concerned that things will get worse before they get better, he said. But if there is a silver lining, they are preparing, or at least trying to.
