COMMUNITY MATTERS
		Financial Instability: Many Utahns Living on the Edge

In 2005, United Way of Salt Lake (UWSL) convened a group of bankruptcy experts for a research project to further understand the aspects of financial instability that contribute to Utah’s high bankruptcy rate. The resulting report, “Living on the Edge: Utahns’ Perspectives on Bankruptcy and Financial Stability”, shows that despite demonstrating high levels of financial awareness and commitment to saving, Utahns are very concerned about insufficient income, their inability to save, and living paycheck to paycheck.

“Living on the Edge: Utahns’ Perspectives on Bankruptcy and Financial Security” is the result of months of research, interviews and contributions by financial experts and other specialists throughout the community. To give context to research findings, eight focus groups were convened. Filers who participated in the focus groups identified 39 “risk factors” including such things as disability, job loss, divorce, substance abuse, overspending, excessive debt, lack of health insurance, insufficient income, poor financial management skills, and high housing costs.

Following up on the focus groups with bankruptcy filers, we conducted a survey of nearly 2,000 randomly selected Utah households to test the financial risk factors among the general population. The results show that too many middle and lower income families are “living on the edge.”

Despite reporting high levels of confidence in several areas of money management, Utahns reported the least confidence in their ability to save money (4.63 one a scale 1-7). More than one-third of respondents indicated that they are living paycheck to paycheck, and 28 percent worry that “inadequate savings” affects their financial security. Further concerns include income, wages and health care costs.

While it is not surprising that Utahns are concerned about these issues, it is shocking that one out of three Utahns is living paycheck to paycheck, has no health insurance or has inadequate health insurance. Also of great concern is the finding that one out of four Utahns is struggling with major medical bills, ongoing prescription drug costs, and mortgage debt. These issues, coupled with the cultural, demographic, and economic factors that surround them, are explored in depth in the report. Other concerns addressed include: e asier/increased access to credit, the i ncreased gap between income and the cost of basic needs, declining access to health insurance and the rising cost of both premiums and out-of pocket health care expenses, increased consumer debt, and decreased household savings.

This tremendous research provides compelling insights about the financial challenges faced by Utah families. We would love to share the results of our research and answer any questions you may have about it. If you are interested in scheduling a presentation of “Living on the Edge” for your organization, please click here to submit a request.

It is my hope that this research will be a resource to the community as we develop meaningful solutions to these challenges. We want to go upstream to address the underlying causes of our community’s most pressing needs in this area. That’s a major purpose of this study: real and lasting solutions can only be achieved if we focus on the right underlying problems in an integrated and collaborative way.

Sincerely,
Deborah S. Bayle
 President and CEO

Click here to download the report