New Yorkers’ financial health has improved in the last year, but a majority of residents still report finances that are the same or worse than they were a year ago, according to a new financial planning survey.
The survey, from the Siena (College) Research Institute (SRI), found that 30 percent of state residents are financially better off than they were a year ago. Another 33 percent of residents are on the same financial footing as they were a year ago and 37 percent said their financial conditions worsened.
That’s slightly better than SRI’s 2011 financial planning survey, which found just 21 percent of state residents were financially better off than they were the previous year. The 2011 survey found that 36 percent of New Yorkers’ finances stayed the same over the preceding year and 42 percent of residents’ finances worsened. The remaining 1 percent of residents did not know the state of their finances in last year’s survey.
“In so many ways, 2011 was a year of treading economic water,” SRI Director Donald Levy said in a news release. “While for so many New Yorkers, little has changed in their financial lives, as we look forward, more than a third, up slightly from a year ago, believe they will be better off on Tax Day 2013 than today.”
In this year’s survey, 36 percent of New Yorkers believe they will be better off next year at this time than they are today. Another 15 percent predicted their finances will be the same, 42 percent said they will be worse, and 6 percent did not know.
Those results are slightly more optimistic than the ones in last year’s survey. In 2011, 33 percent of residents predicted being better off financially in a year, 18 percent anticipated being the same, 43 percent said they would be worse off, and 6 percent did not know.
The survey also found that 43 percent of state residents think they paid too much in income taxes this year, 42 percent think they paid the right amount, and 5 percent think they did not pay enough. A final 10 percent said they did not know how they felt.
Over half of New Yorkers, 53 percent, received a tax refund or expect to receive one this year. Of those receiving refunds, 60 percent plan to use the money to pay bills, 40 percent will hold on to some of it for emergencies, and 17 percent will save a portion for retirement. Only 18 percent expect to use their refunds to make major purchases like appliances.
SRI conducted its survey by making random telephone calls to 807 New York residents over age 18 from March 25 to March 29 and from April 1 to April 3. The institute statistically adjusted the data, which has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 points.
Contact Seltzer at rseltzer@cnybj.com