Unemployment may be just around the corner for many Americans. However, they are unaware that this could happen and they have not saved enough money to cover all the expenses they have. Imagine America sank into a recession and there were many people who had to leave their jobs. Hopefully, this is just a hypothesis and it does not come true.
Take for example the large number of workers who have had to quit their jobs in technological companies. Unemployment benefits may not be enough to keep up the pace with your living standard and current expenses. Therefore, starting to save now would be ideal. If you never need that money, you could spend it on other expenses for retirement. The duration of unemployment insurance is of about 6 months, so you need extra money.
Do most Americans have a backup plan if they had to face unemployment?
According to GOBankingRates, only twenty-seven percent of those Americans who are working have either a backup plan or a second job. Up to 35% really think that their job is safe and state that they have not gotten any alternative plan or additional job. About 33% fear they might lose their jobs but they have not prepared for anything if that becomes a reality. Unemployment may be there for anyone at anytime though.
Women seem to be doing the backup plan better than men according to the aforementioned report. They seem to worry more about losing their job so they might have already thought about how to face it. One of the reasons could be that they tend to earn less money than men, so they are more concerned about it. The gender pay gap could be the main reason then.
What about people at the age of 65?
The survey that GOBankingRates carried out showed that up to twenty-one percent of the people who are 65 years old or older have decided to continue working. Unemployment does not worry half of these people. They believe that their job is not at risk. Another 21% of them have managed to save money and have a backup.
There are so many people working at the age of 65 because the Full Retirement Age has increased to a little more than 67. Besides, the longer you delay retirement, the larger your retirement check will be until you are 70. People may be more interested in saving at this stage to either live comfortably in retirement or to help their families.
However, those workers whose income is low may not be able to save any money at all. There are many Americans that have to pay a lot of money on interest rates for their mortgages. If they had to face unemployment, there would be no backup plan. Some experts believe workers should always be on the lookout for other future job opportunities. In this way, they would avoid the anxiety of just thinking about losing their job. Applying to see if you could get a better job opportunity could be a good idea too.