[frankthetank]

1) What is your biggest financial concern?

The price of fuel: 39%

Saving for retirement: 16%

The cost of health insurance: 14%

Mortgage payments: 13%

Sending my kids to college: 4%

Car is more important then the house?

I thought it was a very interesting survey. Shows you where priorities lie.

More of the survey here:

http://www.parade.com/articles/editions ... nomy_Looks

[Novus]

The car culture is non-negotiable part of American life. Explains nicely why we spend a Trillion dollars on the war but don't have a national heath plan.

[Tyler_JC]

Think about this another way.

The price of fuel has gone up dramatically in the past couple years. People see it every day when they fill their gas tanks or pay their heating bill. It's a very noticeable and serious increase in the average person's cost of living.

The average mortgage payment has not changed. Most people have been living in their homes for a long time and have fixed rate mortgages. So long as they are working, they are paying their mortgage on time. Overall, housing is not a serious problem for most people.

Health insurance costs have gone up rapidly, that explains the large number who cite that as a top issue.

A large % of the population is in their 50s and 60s so saving money for retirement is an urgent concern for that group of people.

A relatively small percentage of the population is paying to put their kids through college at the moment so we shouldn't expect college costs to be the largest concern.

I don't think anything in this survey is surprising or that it reflects poorly on the American people. People are merely reacting to the changing economic environment and the biggest source of anxiety comes from the day-to-day cost of living increases.