Among financial priorities for Americans in 2025, paying off debt rises to the top.
So revealed a recent GOBankingRates survey. Nearly a third of respondents chose killing debt as their main financial goal, far outpacing saving for an emergency fund — the second most-popular choice at 15%. Saving and investing for retirement was third at 13%.
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The results come amid ongoing concerns about high prices and uncertainties around the upcoming Trump administration.
“In general, the financial mood of the U.S. seems optimistically cautious and measuredly anxious,” said Wendolyn T. Forbes, a certified financial planner with Wealth Transition Finance, a member of Advisory Services Network, LLC. “Although market indicators have risen to new highs this year, inflation levels and the impact of devastation caused by natural disasters remain concerns, while talks of tariffs and a government shutdown have become new concerns.”
In the same survey, other respondents asked about their top financial goal listed buying a car (12%), buying a house (11%) and starting to invest (6%). An additional 11% said they didn’t have a main financial goal for 2025.
Suzanne Scullion, the founder of G.R.A.C.E. Financial Coaching, noted a trend in the latest numbers and in recent years.
“Something that I’ve seen shift over the past few years, and that is reflected by the survey results, is the decline of house-buying as a goal,” Scullion said. “Instead, we see that ‘saving for your emergency fund’ and ‘saving and investing for retirement’ have eclipsed home-buying.”
When it comes to tackling debt, Americans face a collectively huge task. According to the latest numbers from the Federal Reserve, U.S. households owe $104,000 on average. That added up to an all-time high of nearly $18 trillion in the third quarter of 2024.
“Managing debt presents challenges for many people,” Forbes said. “In the survey, the goal of paying off debt increased with each age group of respondents but reached its highest mark with those aged 65 and over. Exploring spending habits and cash flow will be critical to help people reach the goal of paying off debt.”
Scullion noted additional results from the survey indicating that many Americans don’t know where to start in the fight against debt.
“It’s not surprising that 32.6% of respondents want to pay off debt, and 34% indicated they have no plan regarding how to [achieve their goals],” Scullion said. “Typically, debt sneaks up on us. No one plans on maxing out three credit cards, it just seems to magically happen.”
To get out of debt, she said, “we have to have a plan for our money, for our income, and follow that plan consistently. Only then will we start to climb out of our debt hole.”
Financial advisors have preached for years about the need to have emergency cash reserves. Financial challenges experienced by many in recent years have helped get the point across.
“Another interesting change has been an increase in the usage of the term ’emergency fund,’” Scullion said, “whereas 9-10 years ago, it was something I needed to explain to clients. Now, after experiencing inflationary increases, more Americans are realizing that having that cushion, that safety net, is an absolute requirement to prevent financial drama in their lives.”
Guidelines vary on how large your emergency fund should be. Having six months of expenses in reserve is seen by many financial pros as ideal, but aspirational for most Americans. Securing two to three months may be more realistic. And just getting started — having something in reserve — is critical.
Forbes shared a deeper concern after taking a more in-depth look at the survey: Among women, 42% of respondents said they had nothing saved in an emergency fund. Another 22% of women said they had less than $500 saved. That means 65% of female respondents said they had $500 or less in reserve, compared to 47% of male respondents.
“Priorities are not static,” Forbes said. “They evolve based on our individual circumstances and are deeply personal. Income, living conditions, habits and values all contribute to the ever-changing nature of our priorities. The priorities were not as concerning to me as the higher percentages of women respondents in the survey who did not have an emergency fund nor emergency savings.”
Particularly if you’ve got debt under control and an emergency fund in place, saving and investing for retirement needs to be a high priority.
Among those planning to retire in 2025, about 16% selected not having enough money as their top concern. Another shade of that — uncertainty about how to plan for inflation — came in as the second-most common concern.
With many Americans trying to play catch-up on retirement savings, it may not come as a surprise that the age group most focused on saving for retirement is the age group closing in on retirement. Among respondents age 55-64, 17% selected saving and investing for retirement as their top money goal for 2025. That compares to 13% for age 65 and older, 12% for age 45-54, 11.5% for age 35-44, 11% for age 25-34, and 9% for age 18-24.
Methodology: GOBankingRates surveyed 1,001 Americans aged 18 and older from across the country between Oct. 17 and Oct. 22, 2024, asking twelve different questions: (1) What is your main financial goal for 2025?; (2) How do you plan on keeping yourself focused on your financial goal in 2025?; (3) If you’re planning to retire in 2025, what is your main financial concern?; (4) How much debt do you have?; (5) How do you plan on paying down your debt in 2025?; (6) How much time do you expect to spend planning your budget per month in 2025?; (7) Currently, what percentage of time do you stick to your budget?; (8) How much do you have in your emergency fund?; (9) How much do you expect to add to your emergency fund in 2025?; (10) How many months of your expenses do you have saved?; (11) What financial resources are you incorporating into your personal finances in 2025?; and (12) What’s your main financial concern going into 2025? GOBankingRates used PureSpectrum’s survey platform to conduct the poll.
