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By Hugh Cameron
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Americans are feeling increasingly uneasy about the state of their personal finances, as revealed by high rates of “financial avoidance” being felt particularly among younger generations.
According to a recent report from the financial services firm U.S. Bank and business researcher Morning Consult, 46 percent of Gen Z adults suffer from this issue and avoid checking their bank account balances due to stress over their finances.
Additionally, nearly three-quarters of Gen Z and Millennials experience “high or moderate anxiety about their checking and savings balances.”
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Why It Matters
Several reports have charted the broad decline in Americans’ financial optimism in recent years. The Conference Board’s latest consumer confidence survey for January showed a steep drop to a 12-year low for the central index—surpassing its pandemic-era levels—with both present and future assessments of business and labor market conditions deteriorating significantly.
What To Know
The U.S. Bank-Morning Consult report was based on a survey of 3,000 U.S. adults, one-in-four of whom said they would need at least $10,000 to avoid feeling of financial stress.
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This echoes the findings of a separate survey from the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE), conducted in December, which found that 88 percent of American adults felt some form of financial stress heading into the new year, up from 79 percent in 2020.
“As we enter 2026, Americans are facing ongoing challenges and reporting some of the highest levels of financial concern we’ve seen in quite some time,” said NEFE CEO Billy Hensley.
Among the anticipated stressors for this year, “paying down debt” came in first at 40 percent, also proving the most popular financial New Year's resolution among respondents.
And the latest quarterly Household Debt and Credit report from the New York Federal Reserve, released on Wednesday, revealed that Americans ended 2025 more indebted than any point in history. Credit card balances rose 5.5 percent year-over-year to $1.3 trillion in the fourth quarter, while auto loan and mortgage balances climbed to $1.7 and $13.2 trillion, respectively.
But, with ongoing concerns over rising prices and the state of the labor market, many Americans still depend on credit in some form, and millions continue to live paycheck to paycheck according to a recent report from the community finance platform SoLo Funds.
Rodney Williams, co-founder of SoLo Funds, told Newsweek that the platform had seen “an increase in borrower activity where members are requesting loans referencing unemployment and layoffs for the reason as to why they need access to capital.”
“The reality for many Americans is that finding meaningful work and building financial resilience feels tougher than ever,” he added.
What People Are Saying
U.S. Bank wrote in the report: “Many under 30 are eager to embark on major financial milestones like going to college, entering the workforce, buying a home or starting a family, but feeling financially unprepared. Survey data backs this up: less than half of adults feel ready for these milestones, and nearly half believe they’ll always have debt.”
Derik Farrar, head of everyday banking and borrowing at U.S. Bank, told Newsweek: “Financial stress for younger generations isn't new. When Boomers and Gen X were 25, it was a lot of work to figure out your bank balance. With knowledge of your bank balance now a few seconds away it is easier to ignore it because it’s always there. Making a plan and setting up alerts can help prompt better financial choices even when the instinct might be to ignore the issue."
What Happens Next
The New York Fed’s January Survey of Consumer Expectations, released Monday, showed that fewer Americans now expect their household’s financial situation to improve over the next 12 months, despite some modest gains in inflation and employment expectations.
Update 2/12/26 7:39 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional commentary from Derik Farrar at U.S. Bank.
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