by Ava Magnuson
People who live paycheck to paycheck use most or all of their monthly income to cover their monthly expenses with little to no money left over and none to save or invest. Living paycheck to paycheck has become a common lifestyle that many Americans face. “49 percent of Americans say they expect they will be living paycheck to paycheck this year,” (Brittany De Lea, Yahoo!Finance, 2020). In addition, many respondents stated that living paycheck to paycheck is because they don’t make enough or have a high income.
Living paycheck to paycheck can be extremely stressful for people because they may feel like they never have enough to cover all the bills or buy the things they want each month. “When you live paycheck to paycheck, you are constantly scrambling to make ends meet or running out of money before the end of the month... it is nearly impossible to get ahead financially,” (The Balance).
As a result, this lifestyle doesn’t only affect people financially, but it can also affect their health. “...parents, younger generations and those who live in households with below median income report higher levels of stress than Americans overall, especially when it comes to stress about money,” (American Psychological Association). According to a survey conducted by Harris Poll, consisting of 3,068 adults in August 2014, money was reported to be the top common stressor.
Some of the reasons as to why people live paycheck to paycheck is because they don’t make enough money, the cost for their rent or mortgage is high, they don’t know how to budget, have too much debt, unemployed, have bad spending habits or other reasons (Yahoo!Finance).
To succeed financially and reach financial goals, people can learn budgeting skills including tracking spending and cutting back on spending. Another step is to set money aside each month, even if it’s a small amount because overtime, that money will build. In addition, getting out of debt is important because it is taking a portion of your paychecks which can prevent you from having enough money to pay for and cover all necessities, so that can be done by paying things off in amounts based on your monthly income. You can also stop using credit cards will help because continuing to put money on them will hold you back from paying off your debt. Lastly, you can sell stuff you don’t use or need or get a side job for some extra money.
Works Cited
Monitor on Psychology, American Psychological Association, www.apa.org/monitor/2015/04/money-stress.
“49% Of Americans Are Living Paycheck to Paycheck.” Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo!, finance.yahoo.com/news/49-americans-living-paycheck-paycheck-090000381.html.
Caldwell, Miriam. “Practical Money Tips to Stop Living From Paycheck to Paycheck.” The Balance, 15 June 2020, www.thebalance.com/stop-paycheck-to-paycheck-2385520#:~:text=When you live paycheck to,things you want each month.
“How Many Americans Live Paycheck to Paycheck?” Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo!, finance.yahoo.com/news/many-americans-live-paycheck-paycheck-190102599.html.
Moore, Lori. “Lori Moore.” BBVA, 21 May 2020, www.bbvausa.com/moneyfit/savings-and-budgeting/what-does-it-mean-to-live-paycheck-to-paycheck.html#:~:text=Living paycheck to paycheck: For,is a fact of life.
I can only imagine how hard it is to get out of that situation unless you are presented with a job offer for a higher salary. Like you said, income is the issue many of the time. Unfortunately, that does make a lot of sense because even with many college degrees, there are plenty of jobs that require that degree yet are paying their workers the very minimum. Then, you have to take into account student loans, bills, etc.
ReplyDeleteI'd completely agree that most Americans do live paycheck to paycheck which sucks but you also have to keep in mind that there are some who are paying off student loans, car insurance, bills, etc. Nowadays it seems that money for Americans feels limited since a majority of their checks gets disputed out into different categories. If I'm going to be honest before when I'd live paycheck to paycheck because trying to figure out how to handle money just seemed to hard but now I'm at least saving a certain amount of money out of my paycheck so that way it will accumulate up to something. Have you ever lived paycheck to paycheck? If so, have you found it to be difficult or felt that you never had any money?
ReplyDeleteI agree that most people do in fact live paycheck to paycheck, and that is obviously proven given the research that you have gathered. It truly is frustrating to me that so many people have jobs that require so much time, yet so little pay. Additionally, on top of monthly spending, some of these people have to worry about paying off debt, loans, bills, etc. Reading this blog has aftually openened my eyes to what the future could potentially hold. What is the best way, in your eyes, to avoid living paycheck to paycheck?
ReplyDeleteLiving paycheck to paycheck must be hard especially if you're put into that situation with no choice. Lots of jobs nowadays require so much of you, whether it's time, a degree, experience etc. yet pay very little. Living paycheck to paycheck must be difficult in everyday life, but how do people then save for bigger things like retirement or if a big medical emergency happens? This lifestyle is so difficult and can put so much stress on to one person, or even a family.
ReplyDeleteI personally feel like living paycheck to paycheck would be one of the most stressful things someone would have to go through. It is very surprising that 49% of Americans think that they will be living paycheck to paycheck sometime this year. I feel like a reason that this is true though is because of the COVID-19 global pandemic. This has put many businesses into a slump and cost a lot of Americans to lose money. The pandemic isn’t even including all of the college students who would normally be living paycheck to paycheck because of their student debt and low income from just graduating. Hopefully the number of Americans who are living paycheck to paycheck goes down because that would be a very frustrating and hard life to live.
ReplyDeletei completly agree with you about how to prevent living paycheck to paycheck by not using credit cards and having a side hussle which most people dont even have or just dont have time to do but living paycheck to paycheck is really a problem in the world and needs to come to an end for most americans and a way to prevent it is to stop spending money on things thatare not needed and thinking more wisely on whats ahead on payments made.
ReplyDeleteI can definitely see how difficult saving money can be in a situation like this. Living paycheck to paycheck leaves very little money to be saved, with most of it being spent on essentials. On top of that, the mental stress of a situation like that could lead to poor choice making, worsening the situation.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to think that the financial reality of most Americans is living paycheck to paycheck, but from most American's financial situations, it makes sense. Like you stated above, one of the largest contributers to why most people live paycheck to paycheck is because of their jobs that make low or minimum wage, high mortgage, debt, and their rent. Although these are the main factors to why people live paycheck to paycheck, I think what contributes towards this even more is people have bad spending habits and/or they don't know how to budget and invest their money. I wonder how Americans living paycheck to paycheck would be positively affected if they learned how to properly budget and invest their money. Additionally, I wonder if this would decrease the amount of people who live paycheck to paycheck.
ReplyDeleteMany people especially with the pandemic, are living paycheck to paycheck which is hard when many places were out of items for a while or drove prices up so that some people couldn't afford it. I saw a video where a mother was crying because she couldn't afford to pay for multiple packs of diapers, so she didn't get any because of those who were buying all of them to hoard. That was the case with a lot of people during all of the hoarding initially especially for those living paycheck to paycheck as they couldn't afford to hoard like others and many weren't willing to give up anything they had.
ReplyDeleteLiving paycheck to paycheck is a tough reality for so many Americans. I never realized 49% Americans were living pay check to pay check, that seems like a a lot and I wonder if most of them are college students or single parents. I think a good way to avoid this is creating a budget, so you know what you can afford, even if the budget is your whole check.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that most people are living paycheck to paycheck and it is tough for them. The problem is people work for a long time in order to pay of debt and taxes as well as buying food and clothes for their loved ones and they don’t have any leftover money that they can keep in their savings accounts. One thing I would like to ask is if you have ever felt a time where you felt like you were going paycheck to paycheck such as during the COVID pandemic?
ReplyDeleteLiving paycheck to paycheck is a very difficult thing. I could only imagine how stressful it would be to live in these circumstances. One thing that is very important during this situation when living paycheck to paycheck is making sure you have all your needs and then maybe not getting all of your wants due to financial circumstances. Your wants aren’t a necessity and would be wasting your money during this critical time. Another thing I liked about your writing is that you gave alternative options to save money. For example selling unneeded items is a great idea to gain a little extra money.
ReplyDeleteLiving paycheck to paycheck has to be really tough, and i'm sure it's something most people go through at some point in their lives. My question for you is how much should I try to save every month, especially with living paycheck to paycheck? If i need money for bills later am I able to take that money out and have to start all over again? I want to know how having everyone be required to take a financial literacy class would help with this?
ReplyDeleteAfter reading Avas writing piece, I can understand how scary it can be living paycheck to paycheck. Not only doesn't it take a toll on your wallet but also your emotional and mental health. I can understand the stress that may come along when trying to keep up with bills and other expenses and there should be some support system to help these individuals who are struggling. Especially since most of them can't put any money away to save, they will be living like this majority of their life which isn't going to make them happy at the end of the day. Overall, I think Ava did a really good job going in depth about the factors that come along with living paycheck to paycheck and I have a better understanding about how a group of individuals live.
ReplyDeleteI think its unfortunate that in the richest and most powerful nation on earth people still struggle to get basic financial needs covered in their paycheck. Living paycheck to paycheck is very difficult for people because not only do they not have their necessities covered now but in the future they will have little to no savings. Many people who live like this never really retire and they work their elderly years away because they have to. I like how you brought up the mental health and the stress that comes with living paycheck to pay check.
ReplyDeleteWith the pandemic many people are affected, businesses closing down and people loosing jobs. I cant imagine what people who are living to pay check to pay check are having to go through specially with this pandemic still affecting the economy. Hopefully those numbers will drop in the future and have less people living pay check to pay check and have enough money to save and invest.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the more insight on a topic we really don't think about but can be very difficult to do. Living paycheck to paycheck might be one of the hardest things to do but with this extra information maybe it'll be one more step for me not doing it at all.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine how hard it must have been for individuals who are living pay check to pay check with corona virus amidst us. Because of the nation wide shut down it must have been so scary not knowing if you were going to get payed and then on top of that the financial aid that the government was giving out to struggling families might not have never gotten to them. Really great work!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately this is such a cruel reality to the world and society we are living in today. The pressure and stress to make a living for yourself is something that starts out at a young age for many Americans due to their financial status. It's hard to think that we work like machines, but we really are only human. There needs to be a way for balance in this world, the need/want for money is the root of far to many problems. This was great insight to a topic thats not talked about enough. Do you think there could ever be a way to make real change? How?
ReplyDeleteSeeing how many problems and how much stress living paycheck to paycheck can cause, It would be could to keep this in mind as prepare for our futures. Looking at the pie chart you provided in your post, it looks like there are some specific things that we can prepare for in order to prevent ourselves from living paycheck to paycheck. Each of those categories are things that we can start working on now. Like you said, we need to be able to properly budget, so if we learn how to do so early on, it won't be a problem as we get into college and move on to other things in our lives. I liked how you organized your whole post as you started be telling us why we even need to worry about our finances, then you went on to talk about how to avoid living paycheck to paycheck.
ReplyDeleteSeeing individuals live paycheck to paycheck is very hard. I myself, can't even imagine living paycheck to paycheck each day and getting all the stress. Some people in their lives, have to deal with this, as it gets very tough to be put into a situation like this.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very difficult topic to talk about especially when we see people living paycheck to paycheck in their everyday lives. I feel that you did a very good job of explaining the lifestyle one lives when living paycheck to paycheck. I like in the end how you provided advice and suggestions to people who might suffer from this lifestyle. What ways do you think that we can initiate change in order to prevent others from struggling when they live paycheck to paycheck?
ReplyDeleteGreat Work! This topic is one that is quite personal to many people, nonetheless you did a great job of displaying all the factors that go into this topic which in my opinion is an issue. This piece was very informative and well organized. Thank you for shining light on a topic many of us don't talk about in detail.
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