Credit Card News: Your Money

More than half of adults across the country are tossing and turning over financial worries, according to a recent report. Sixty-nine percent of folks who were surveyed by phone said that money problems prevent them from getting a good night’s rest.

Retirement savings, the cost of education, and healthcare expenses are among the specific worries cited by survey respondents. Two in five of those surveyed said that saving enough for retirement is the source of insomnia, whether on a regular basis or just occasionally. This worry weighs most heavily on folks between ages 50 and 64. Half said thoughts about financing retirement keep them up at night.

Similarly, it’s younger people who worry most about educational expenses. Fifty percent of respondents ages 18 to 29 said they were kept awake by concerns about affording college, university, or other educational expenses. Overall, only 31% of respondents were worried about the cost of education.

Health insurance and medical bills were the cause of worry for 29% of folks, in spite of new laws meant to make insurance and healthcare more affordable for Americans. Twenty-seven percent were worried about making their mortgage or rent payment each month, and 21% suffered loss of shuteye due to the balance on their credit cards.

Educational expenses are newest big worry

Over the eight years that this survey has been done, the things keeping people up have shifted. The biggest change is that more and more people report that educational expenses are causing them to lose sleep at night. Of the five cost categories people were asked about – retirement, education, healthcare, housing, and credit cards – education is the only one to see a steady rise in the number of people losing sleep.

Every year of the survey, more than half of people have reported being occasionally unable to sleep because of money woes. In 2007, 56% of people answered that they had financially-induced insomnia some of the time, and in 2009 the number spiked to 69%.

Age and higher incomes help folks sleep

People ages 65 and over slept the best, at least where money is concerned. Only 46% of that age group reported losing sleep over finances. Sixty-seven percent of those between ages 18 and 64 said the same.

Making more money helped, too. People with an annual household income under $75,000 were more likely to lose sleep over finances (69%), while those making more slept easier (51% lost sleep over money issues).

One thousand adults were surveyed in May 2015 for this study.