ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Operation HOPE, a national nonprofit dedicated to helping low- and moderate-income Americans thrive in an ever-changing economy, today announced the fourth quarter 2024 results of The HOPE Insider, a comprehensive nationwide client survey. This quarter marks one full year of conducting the survey, providing key insights into American financial sentiment on a year-over-year basis for the first time. This quarter’s new findings revealed that most respondents are less optimistic about the impact of the election results on the future of the economy and their personal financial situations. However, a significant majority of Operation HOPE clients that receive financial literacy and support services remain overall hopeful that they will be able to improve their financial well-being in the year ahead.
Key Fourth Quarter 2024 Findings:
Optimism based on this year’s election results is low across all categories
When asked how respondents feel based on the results of the election:
- 53% believe the results will not increase job growth in their community (26% believe it will)
- 51% are less optimistic about housing affordability (26% are more optimistic)
- 48% are less optimistic about the economy, including inflation and the cost of everyday goods (32% are more optimistic)
- 45% believe it will not be easier to start or grow a small business (29% believe it will)
- 39% are less optimistic about their personal financial situation (34% are more optimistic)
Hope for increased personal financial well-being remains high, but is lower than this time last year
- 77% of respondents said this quarter that they are hopeful that their financial well-being will increase over the next year.
- This, however, is an eight percent decrease year-over-year, which coincides with the household economic strain from persistent high prices and other factors in 2024.
- Looking into a new year, almost half of respondents (46%) said they are “unsure” if we’ll have good times or bad times financially.
Most respondents are still living paycheck-to-paycheck
- 72% of respondents report living paycheck-to-paycheck, and nearly half (48%) say their personal debt levels have increased over the last three months.
- Of the debt they currently have, credit cards are the most financially burdensome type, at 35% – this has remained consistent over the course of the year.
- Student loans are the second-most stressful, at 17%, followed by mortgages and auto loans, tied at 12% each.
Cost of everyday goods remains the most impactful financial burden
- Cost of everyday goods (groceries, clothing, gas, etc.) has consistently impacted respondents’ lives the most since the second quarter of this year.
- 46% of respondents this quarter said that the cost of everyday goods was the factor most impacting their lives this year - a nearly 10-percent increase from last quarter (37.5%) and a significant jump from last year when 27.5% said inflation (a measure of the rising costs of everyday goods) was the most impactful financial burden.
- When looking toward the future, we saw a significant increase in respondents reporting “cost of everyday goods” as the most worrisome factor– from 25% last year to 36% this year.
Employment satisfaction has decreased
- The percent of respondents who are overall satisfied with their current employment has decreased to 62% this quarter from 75% in the fourth quarter last year.
- Although nearly 47% of respondents are still “very” hopeful that their work/career will improve over the next year, this metric has decreased from 54% last quarter and 53% this time last year.
- Despite almost 69% of respondents describing the current economy as “difficult” to start or grow as an entrepreneur, the majority of respondents (61%) remain hopeful that small business growth in their community will increase over the next year.
Operation HOPE Client Impact
The high percentage of respondents reporting that they felt optimistic about their personal financial future despite current challenges and concerns about the broader economy demonstrates the value of the financial wellness coaching and support they receive from Operation HOPE. This optimism is reflected in HOPE’s latest impact report, which shows that through Operation HOPE’s services, clients have experienced an average increase of 40 points in credit scores (of those who saw improvement), a median decrease in debt of $1,934, and a median increase in savings of $1,145.
About The Hope Insider
The HOPE Insider survey has been conducted quarterly by Operation HOPE’s research team since November 2023. This latest survey - which took place from November 12, 2024 to November 24, 2024 - was sent to Operation HOPE’s client base of adults, small business owners, and entrepreneurs who have sought the organization’s financial wellness services. Nearly 2,000 Operation HOPE clients responded on topics including housing, debt, small business ownership, work and general economic optimism. The survey features a diverse representative set with respondents from all adult age ranges, ethnicities, genders, and household incomes across the U.S. The quarterly survey tracks overall trends, with additional questions to reflect timely issues. Its goal is to gather a broad-based understanding of the sentiment of Operation HOPE clients on a regular basis to better support their needs and to serve as an indicator of the real-time financial and economic concerns of the American public.
About Operation HOPE, Inc.
Since 1992, Operation HOPE has been moving America from civil rights to "silver rights" with the mission of making free enterprise and capitalism work for the underserved—disrupting poverty for millions of low and moderate-income youth and adults across the nation. Through its community uplift model, HOPE Inside, which received the 2016 Innovator of the Year recognition by American Banker magazine, Operation HOPE has served more than 4 million individuals and directed more than $3.2 billion in economic activity into disenfranchised communities—turning check-cashing customers into banking customers, renters into homeowners, small business dreamers into small business owners, minimum wage workers into living wage consumers, and uncertain disaster victims into financially empowered disaster survivors. For more information: OperationHOPE.org. Follow the HOPE conversation on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn.
