3 in 4 Americans say their finances haven’t improved under Trump : politics

Personal finance is complicated.

Am I better off than I was in 2016? Well…

My net worth is higher now but that’s to be expected because I’m older and I have more in my retirement savings and the kids’ college funds, but I’m not certain whether I’ve improved as to where I “should” be at my age, and the value of my house has gone up a lot, but maybe that’s an outcome of low interest rates and that will vanish if mortgage rates get up into the 5-6% range, which sounds high now but is more in line with historical norms, and I’ve gotten a few small raises but most of my pay increase has been through profit-sharing, which is as a result of the lower corporate tax policies, which could prove temporary, and I’ve banked a lot of that savings, but it’s now growing at a measly 1.25% because rates are so low, and my 401(k) looks good at the moment but I’m worried the stock market is in for a second dip, and my checking account looks good because I’m not spending money on childcare because I’ve been working from home, but I’m worried about what will happen in the fall if my company wants me back in the office and the schools are talking about a half-on, half-off schedule, which I’m not sure how we’ll manage, and while my wife has been getting more shifts she’s also worried about job security as she almost lost her job in April and that may actually happen in the fall if infection rates skyrocket and her office slows down again, and they’ve told her she’s safe through the end of June, but that’s coming up in a few weeks and we think she’ll be safe but we are beefing up our savings just in case, and so we have a larger emergency fund than usual but I’m much more worried that we’ll actually use it in the near-term because of all of the general chaos around me and the uncertainty of how the economy will recover.

Am I better off than 2016? Worse off? Well to be honest… I genuinely don’t know.