Just One-Tenth of Americans Believe They Have Financial Freedom, Study Finds (2024)

Only slightly more than one out of 10 Americans believe they have achieved their definition of financial freedom, according to a survey by digital personal finance company Achieve.

The survey revealed that many Americans are feeling defeated when it comes to their financial lives, with just 11% reporting that they are living their definition of economic freedom. The most common definitions of this type of freedom include:

• Being debt-free: 54.2%
• Living comfortably, if not rich: 50%
• Being able to meet monthly financial obligations with money left over: 49.3%
• Never having to worry about money: 46.2%

Just 12.6% of respondents believe that being rich constitutes financial freedom. Moreover, just under 32% said having sufficient funds to give up working altogether was their economic dream.

“We’re seeing far fewer Americans with the goal of becoming ‘rich’ and many families pivoting to just trying to be able to pay their bills on time,” Achieve co-founder and Co-CEO Brad Stroh said in a statement. “With all of the economic pressures facing American families, financial freedom is currently more about making ends meet.”

Financial stability is particularly hard to reach for those living with debt, Stroh said. In fact, more than half of respondents in each generation said that being debt-free is their top financial goal.

In other findings, more than half of respondents (58%) said they are nowhere near reaching their personal definition of financial freedom, as evidenced by the fact that many don’t have well-funded savings accounts. In addition, 40% of respondents lack even a basic bank savings account–and among those who do, 35.8% said they have less than $1,000 in those accounts.

Respondents, however, voiced optimism amongst the doom. More than half (52%) believe their journey toward the ideal is improving, as compared to the 37% who believe it’s getting worse. That in itself is a light in the darkness.