The average American already spends more than half of his salary mentally before landing on his account. According to a new survey.
The survey employed Americans under $75,000 a year voted for 2,000 employed Americans, looking into where this money goes and revealing the “anatomy” of their pay.
Between discrepancies of living expenses and pay (44%) and sporadically inconsistent due dates (31%), the results showed that 5 in 5 (39%) pre-planned what was initially paid while waiting for pay, with 51% of those funds being pre-dried.
An expired invoice (38%) is another major cause of assigning payments before having a salary. In fact, only 40% of those who voted don’t have expired bills, while 55% are between 1 and 4 during a given month.
Rentals, meals and utilities are top priority over late invoices
Larger bills (38%), such as rent and mortgages (56%), essentials such as food and medicine (51%), and small bills (38%), such as electricity and water (38%), are all more likely to be paid first than late invoices (29%) after receiving your salary.
Talker Research has been running it on behalf of the AcquiredThe results also found that the average American spends within the first three days of receiving about 43% of his salary.
This study tested the 50/30/20 budget rule. Rules that 50% of your salary should be required, 30% should go to desire, and 20% should go to saving.
The results showed that the average respondents point to the majority of their funds (64%) towards “needs” such as food, bills, and housing. Only 16% of the average is dedicated to “desires” or something fun, and only 16% saves.
As budget rules suggest, over half (56%) indicate that less than 10% of their salary was spent on savings, and another 23% can’t remember that they were able to hide 20% of their income in their savings.
Only 20% of Americans have to run out of money or budget until they get paid. However, 62% struggle to afford groceries, pay bills big and small (30%), and even medication (16%) and loan payments (16%).
Two in five (39%) turn into side-to-side fuss when additional funds are needed, while others rely on family (31%) or credit cards (28%). Still, it remains at 14% completely without options.
“The results found that only 5% of respondents can rely on the bank to transfer their pay early, while even less (4%) can rely on employers for early pay.” “In today’s world, employees don’t have to wait a few days to access the money they have already earned. People deserve a financial solution that provides faster access to wages so that they can manage their money on their own terms and conditions, not on the bank’s schedule.”
Few Americans can rely on banks for early pay access, but the average person has been in the bank for nine years, with 14% estimated to be between 19 and 20 years.
Bank loyalty driven by comfort rather than payroll access
More than half (57%) have this bank’s loyalty due to the fact that this bank’s loyalty is simply comfortable.
If the Americans who voted were able to get their paycheck up to two days in advance, then over a third (34%) could pay their bills on time, while 29% felt they weren’t stressed about their finances overall. One in five (19%) can either pay rent on time or spend more money savings (15%).
Overall, 56% would normally feel more financially safe if they could receive their salary up to two days in advance before landing on their account.
Research method:
The Talker survey looked at 2,000 employed Americans under $75,000. The investigation was commissioned by Acquired Managed and implemented online by Talker Research January 24th and January 28th, 2025.
