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Life Health > Running Your Business > Marketing and Lead Generation

Politics Beats Inflation, Recession as Americans' Top Concern: Survey

By Allison Bell

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U.S. consumers think that the economy looks good but are scared anyway, according to new survey data from Northwestern Mutual.

When the survey participants were asked to rank seven factors that could hurt their finances this year, 67% put “government dysfunction” or “the U.S. presidential election” in the top two slots, and 57% put inflation there. “A potential recession” came in third, appearing in the top two slots in 24% of the responses.

“People are just fed up with the dysfunction,” Christian Mitchell, Northwestern Mutual’s chief customer officer, said earlier this month at a briefing in New York.

What it means: The fall elections could affect on how clients think about their saving, investment and insurance arrangements.

Northwestern Mutual: Northwestern Mutual is a policyholder-owned, Milwaukee-based mutual life insurer. It manages $627 billion in assets for its insurance operations and its clients.

The survey: Northwestern Mutual has been conducting the surveys in its current series since 2012. The company uses the results to help its executives and advisors understand market trends.

The company also posts morsels from the survey throughout the year to get members of the public thinking about the need to plan for the future.

The new survey results come from an online survey of 4,588 U.S. adults ages 18 and older that was fielded in January.

The mood: One reason for gloom may be that the percentage of Northwestern Mutual survey participants who describe themselves as disciplined financial planners, based on their own definition of “disciplined,” dropped to 45% this year, down from 50% last year and down from 65% in 2020.

Only 26% of the participants plan to spend more on discretionary expenses this year and 37% hope to spend less.

About 42% of the participants said this is a year to be defensive and 29% said this is a year to go on the offensive.

Mitchell said the overall results suggest that consumers’ uncertainty levels are rising and causing consumers in all age groups to hunker down.

Financial services companies and advisors need to help investors stick to their long-term strategies and avoid acting emotionally, he said.

Playing defense: About 40% of the participants with a net worth over $1 million who described themselves as “playing defense,” and about 28% of all participants taking a defensive approach, said this is a good time to put more money in “safe, high-yield products.”

Northwestern Mutual did not use the word “annuity,” but results suggest that high-net-worth consumers are thinking more about CDs and annuities.

Credit: Thinkstock

Allison Bell

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