Georgia ranks last in terms of financial security

According to a new study, Georgia residents have the lowest level of financial security than residents of any other state in the country. This means that Georgians are more likely to be living paycheck-to-paycheck with little to no safety net protecting them financially if something unexpectedly goes wrong.

The study was conducted by the Corporation for Enterprise Development, a nonprofit educational organization that promotes economic opportunities for low-income people across the country. Researchers reportedly found that Georgia residents’ have a significant amount of debt, high rate of personal bankruptcy filings and an overall lack of assets and savings. This caused Georgia to wind up last in the financial security ranking.

Specifically, Georgia ranked in the bottom five in nearly all categories, including overdue debt, poor credit scores, incomes below the poverty level, bankruptcy filings, and number of households that don’t have a checking or savings account. In addition, Georgia’s unemployment rate is far above the national average, and households in the state have an average net worth that is more than $20,000 below the national average.

Researchers also found that more than half of the households in Georgia are ‘liquid asset poor.’ This means that if the households were to suddenly lose their income, they would not have enough access to survive and stay out of poverty for three months.

According to researcher Kasey Wiedrich, this is a problem that affects families of all financial levels in the state. “This is not just people with a low-end job or people on unemployment,” she said. “A lot of these families make a decent living, but they don’t have savings and they’re just getting by.”

Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “Georgia is dead last in financial security,” Craig Schneider, Feb. 10, 2012