Financial satisfaction of people in the U.S. rebounded strongly in the third quarter of the year, according to a new survey by the American Institute of CPAs, reversing the lows in the second quarter in the midst of the recession brought on by the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The AICPA’s Q3 2020 Personal Financial Satisfaction Index measured 33.1, representing a whopping 99 percent (16.5 point) increase from the previous quarter. That’s the biggest quarterly increase in the 27-year history of the PFSi, and a complete turnaround from the second quarter, when the index had its largest ever quarterly drop.
Troy Vosseller is the Co-Founder of gener8tor–a Midwest-based venture capital firm and startup accelerator network. Since 2012, gener8tor has worked with more than 1,000 startups that have cumulatively raised more than $1.4B in follow-on venture capital. Troy came to gener8tor from the University of Wisconsin Law School's Law & Entrepreneurship Clinic, a program providing free legal services to startup businesses and entrepreneurs, where he worked as an Assistant Clinical Professor/Supervising Attorney. As an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Troy founded the most cliché student startup imaginable–a t-shirt company. It was a success, and today Sconnie Nation continues to market a line of apparel that focuses on celebrating the Wisconsin lifestyle.
Before discovering his love of startups, Troy held brief stints at Qualcomm and Intuit. He holds a BA, MBA and JD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Alex Fuentes has 20 years of experience in start-up and rapid-change environments and is currently Brickeye's Executive Vice President of Strategic Growth and Business Development.
He provides a deep understanding of infrastructure development and cleantech to Brickeye, having served in senior roles within the energy storage and renewable energy sectors. Alex holds an MBA from the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management and a Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Waterloo.
Lena is a startup veteran with demonstrated expertise in propelling business growth for growth-stage fintech companies. In her role as Chief Revenue Officer at leading life insurance technology company Bestow, Lena Chukhno oversees B2B partnership growth for advisor, embedded and enterprise partners. Companies of every size — from startups to public companies — leverage Bestow's software to launch and sell digital life insurance and improve efficiency and profitability by managing the business online.
Prior to joining Bestow, Lena had a combined role as the General Manager of Student Loan Refinancing and Head of Strategy at Earnest, a mission-driven fintech in San Francisco. Under her leadership, Earnest grew to become the market leader in the education financing space.
Previously, she led business development and growth strategy for the Multi-Asset Solutions division at JPMorgan and spent time at McKinsey & Company in management consulting.
A native of Ukraine, Lena earned bachelor's and master's degrees in finance from Kyiv National Economic University, and an MBA from INSEAD.
The PFSi is built around various factors, including the labor market. The gains can be mainly attributed to improvements in job openings per capita and underemployment. Those had the biggest impact on increasing the overall PFSi. The biggest factor driving the quarter-over-quarter rally was a 35 percent (37 point) decrease in underemployment. A decrease in underemployment improves overall financial satisfaction in the index. While there was an improvement in underemployment in the third quarter from Q2’s record high, it’s still 117 percent above its level a year ago. For the second consecutive quarter, underemployment is still the biggest negative contributor to the average American’s personal financial satisfaction. The Q3 underemployment level reflects data measured through the middle of September.
“As Americans continue to navigate the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to remember that the fundamentals of financial planning haven’t changed,” said AICPA PFS Credential Committee chair Dave Stolz in a statement Thursday. “Though the stock market’s record performance is encouraging, 2020 has served as a reminder of the volatile nature of markets. As the impact of COVID-19 continues to play out across the country, investors should weigh their risk tolerance and ensure they have ample cash on hand. Further, a tax-efficient financial plan that includes a diversified portfolio can give confidence that long-term financial goals will remain within reach through this period of extreme uncertainty.”
The coronavirus put millions out of work, prompting job openings per capita to show a record plummet earlier this year. In the third quarter, job openings started to recover, climbing 37 percent (20 points) compared to Q2. That factor is now only 10 percent below its measurement a year ago before the pandemic. The Q3 index comes from July data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
