Americans are a stress-y bunch, but some are more stressed than others, especially when it comes to money. Even those are who better off get stressed, and women are more stressed than men.
All that is according to the New York Life Retirement Plan Services 2014 Financial Stress Survey, which reported that 73 percent of people felt daily stress including 28 percent who described themselves as extremely stressed.
The top driver of stress is money, with 60 percent saying that they worry about possible financial trouble, 47 percent fearing catastrophic-level medical bills and 46 percent fearing for their jobs (and, by extension, income). No real surprise here.
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What is surprising is that it's not only people who are low on the pay scale who have all these worries.
More than 25 percent of respondents with annual incomes greater than $100,000 were among the "highly stressed" group.
Understandably, lower earners — those who make less than $50,000 annually — have more immediate concerns than retirement. They're too busy trying to put money away for an emergency fund.
Women, meanwhile, are laboring under a particular handicap when it comes to both stress and money. Women worry more about everything, including financial troubles. More of them (34 percent) reported being extremely stressed over money than men (22 percent). Those who say they're highly stressed know that they're not acting to fix their financial situations; 64 percent of women say they're behind schedule on putting money away for retirement, and half say they're not even up to snuff on budgeting. They also worry more about emergency funds, medical bills and everyday expenses.
All that financial stress takes its toll on what retirement savings people are able to put away. New York Life said that almost 25 percent of its retirement plan participants have an outstanding loan and another 2 percent took out a hardship withdrawal in 2013. In addition, participants with loans outstanding contribute less to their retirement plans than participants who don't have loans.
While women have done less than men to prepare for retirement, they were also more likely than men to want specific options to better their financial condition, such as financial plans and debt elimination/consolidation tools.
Considering that 70 percent of respondents expect to be just as stressed financially next year as they are this year and continue to be distracted at work by financial woes (25 percent, according to the PwC 2013 Employee Wellness Survey), employers who provide additional retirement education or assistance might well come out ahead.
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