Are You Feeling Less Stressed about Your Personal Finances?

Oct. 5, 2010 - PRLog -- Are You Feeling Less Stressed about Your Personal Finances?

A natural byproduct of the economic recession has been a rise in the personal stress levels of Americans nationwide. Money issues are a leading cause of stress and with high levels of unemployment and foreclosures, stress levels have risen considerably over the past two years. While this stress may initially only be about money it is hard to keep it contained. Marriage rates are at all time lows as more and more couples put off getting married due to financial limitations. Divorce rates have also seen a spike over the past two years as money is typically the number one or number two reason why couples get a divorce. So where do we stand right now? Well according to a new poll released by the AP, the nations stress levels dropped in August compared to previous months.

Stress declined in 33 out of the 50 states and in over 66% of the nation’s counties. While the drop was not substantial and there are many factors that continue to weigh heavily on the minds of consumers, any drop at this point is welcome news and more indication that we are slowly but surely clawing ourselves out of this poor economic environment. While the unemployment rate remained unchanged and personal bankruptcies continued to be elevated, the home foreclosure rates dropped nationally and particularly in hard hit areas of the country such as California, Florida, and Nevada.

The stress index is based on a 1-100 scale and the average score nationally dropped to 10.3 from 10.5 in July. While at risk states such as Michigan, California, and Nevada continue to have the highest rates of stress they are also the ones seeing the largest improvements. Taken collectively, this data is just another factor that points to a recovery at a less than ideal pace. But I am sure that anyone living in the hardest hits states is appreciating the small drop in their stress levels!

Readers, have you also noticed a drop in your stress level? Have you relaxed a bit or are you still worried about your job security and how to pay next months credit card bill? What will it take for you to return to pre recession stress levels?

Preferred Financial Services is a debt reduction firm certified by the CFC (Center for Financial Certifications) and accredited by U.S.O.B.A. (United States Organizations for Bankruptcy Alternatives). Headquartered in Andover, Massachusetts, Preferred Financial Services has been a leader in the debt reduction industry since 2003. Preferred Financial Services has acquired some of the best experience in the industry over the past 7 years. In 2009 alone Preferred Financial Services reduced over $16.5 million worth of consumer debt for just $6.4 million, for a savings of about 60%- and over 2,900 accounts were settled on behalf of their clients.

For more information, please visit www.pfsdebtrelief.com or follow us on our blog at www.pfsdebtrelief.com/blog/ .

Contact:               
Stephan Tavernini
Marketing Coordinator
Certified Educator in Personal Finance
Certified IAPDA Debt Arbitrator
stavernini@pfs1.net

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Preferred Financial Services is the leading voice in the debt settlement industry. PFS has worked with hundreds of creditors to help negotiate realistic goals for those drowning credit card debt.