Only one third of Americans report they’re doing well, and retirement planning and personal finances remain major sources of stress.
Guardian Life Insurance Company of America reports this low state of well-being in its annual Mind, Body and Wallet study and says additional well-being support and resources are needed, especially around retirement planning and personal finance stressors.
The 2024 report, which surveyed more than 4,000 full-time employees and benefits decision-makers in America, found that one-third of Americans self-reported “good” or “excellent” well-being. Mental and physical health were rated as “good” or “excellent” by 36% and 37% of Americans, respectively. Even fewer — 32% — say their financial health is “good” or “excellent.” But there was progress, as well-being for each category saw a 4 percentage point increase, from the 2023 report.
The report’s findings include:
- Retirement-related concerns, including not having enough money to last through retirement and not having a guaranteed source of income in retirement.
- Only half of Americans say they know how much money they will need in retirement and only 36% say they are “very good” at managing their finances.
- Almost half say they would face financial hardship without their workplace benefits.
Most say that addressing and improving their employees’ financial (74%), physical (66%) and mental (71%) health are very important. - 73% of Americans with high financial health also rated their emotional health as “good” or “very good.” But 82% with low financial health also reported poor emotional health.
Just 34% of Americans reported good work-life balance. This likely contributed to the 33% increase in the number of workers who reported feeling burnt out. - Members of Gen X reported worse financial well-being than Gen Z, perhaps due to Gen X concerns around inflation and economic uncertainty as they approach retirement.
- Single parents reported much lower well-being scores than parents with partners. Only 27% reported good physical health (compared with 43% for partnered parents); 26% of single parents cited good mental health (vs. 43%)’ and 18% reported good financial health (vs. 40%).
- Between 2020 and 2023, there was a 215% increase in short-term disability claims due to post-partum depression.
Guardian’s 13th Annual Workplace Benefits Study was conducted in January and February 2024 and featured two online surveys: one of employers and the other of employees.
