Financial Confidence

Age 45- 54: “The light at the end of
the tunnel”
Average income: $78,879
Income growth rate from previous
age bracket: 1%
Average percent confident: 29%
Average annual vehicle payments: $3,958
Average annual mortgage payments: $3,950
Average household size: 2.7 people
Average yearly expenditures: $60,524
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Table 1300. Age of reference person:
Annual expenditure means, shares, standard errors, and coefficient of variation,
Consumer Expenditure Survey, 2013”
This age group continues to have low financial
confidence—right as income increases have
almost come to a halt, at an average 1% growth
rate. While expenditures continue to rise slightly,
the highest jump in savings goals for this group,
according to LearnVest data, is in retirement
and cars (perhaps bringing some validity to the
mid-life crisis car-buying trope). With retirement
looming, financial responsibilities still at a high
point, and income growth at standstill, people in
this age group are likely wondering how they’re
going to make ends meet. They may need to
wait another ten years or so (when it’s more
likely that their mortgage will be paid off and
their kids have left the house) for their income
to fall in line with their responsibilities. It’s at
that point (the 55+ age group) that we finally see
financial confidence rise again.
19 Financial Confidence: Examining the U-Curve—and How We Might Improve the Confidence Trajectory