What You Need to Know
- 8% of participants said they are working more hours without compensation.
- 11% said they're coping by pulling money out of 401(k) plans.
- 15% said they have reduced spending on health care, or stopped it altogether, because of loss of income.
About 17% of U.S. adults said in December 2020 that the COVID-19 crisis had cut their household income by 50% or more, and 36% said their annual household income had fallen below $30,000.
In May, only 19% of the participants in a similar Prudential survey said their annual household income was under $30,000.
Prudential Financial Inc. has reported those findings in a summary of results from its latest financial wellness census survey.
The sample for the latest survey included 2,201 U.S. adults ages 24 through 74. An outside company conducted the survey for Prudential from Dec. 18, 2020, through Dec. 20, 2020.
Prudential has been conducting surveys under the financial wellness census label since 2018.
Impacts on Payments and Accounts
Some of the responses to the latest survey show how the COVID-19 pandemic, and the social distancing rules and other moves made to fight the pandemic, may be affecting life insurers and other financial services companies.
Prudential found, for example, that the percentage of participants who said they have fallen behind on bills increased to 24%, from 11% in May.
About 9% of the participants said they had missed a mortgage or rent payment.
To compensate for reductions in income, many participants reported they were using debt, emergency savings or other resources other than ordinary income to make the payments they were making.