Wednesday, May 29, 2013

N.C. below average in 'financial capability'

The average North Carolinian has more unpaid medical debt, less savings and less financial knowledge than the typical American, according to a state-by-state survey of "financial capability" by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

North Carolina ranks second from the bottom in terms of percentage of the population with delinquent medical bills, at 36 percent. Only Mississippi is worse. The average is 24 percent.

In the other categories, North Carolina was only slightly below the U.S. average.

  • 60 percent of North Carolinians reported not having a three-month savings fund. The national average was 56 percent.
  • 35 percent in N.C. make only minimum credit card payments. It's 34 percent nationwide.
  • On a five-question financial literacy test, N.C. got 2.84 correct on average. The U.S. scored 2.88.
  • Both N.C. and the U.S. came in at 41 percent reporting spending less than they make each month.
You can check out South Carolina's results here.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pretty sad.

This is a 5 question "test" of the most basic financial concepts concerning things such as interest and inflation.

Our nation is doomed if people are really this dumb.

Anonymous said...

Seriously, is anyone really that surprised by this?!?

Even worse is that so many people here are content to wallow in their ignorance and let themselves be manipulated by the political and religious forces in this state.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous 1:02 - "manipulated by political and religious forces." (insert - jaw drop)

Are you one of the ones that took the financial test??