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.
Ben Zatlin serves as Vice President and General Manager of Agero's Accident Management business, a role he began in September 2021. Prior to leading the Accident Management line of business, Ben spent the previous two and a half years leading Agero's digital transformation to Swoop, its next-generation dispatching platform. He is passionate about leveraging technology to drive claims innovation and deliver consistent, high-quality service. Prior to Agero, Ben was a management consultant at professional services firm Deloitte and an operations engineer at life sciences company Abbott Laboratories. He holds a BA in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Southern California and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Justin Berman is a Technical Director at Skybox Security. Berman is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and Certified Cloud Security Professional with a Certified Specialty in AWS Security with over 20 years of experience.
Justin has a passion for IT security beyond the realm of his assigned roles and responsibilities. He is knowledgeable across a great number of security disciplines.
As the General Manager of Dayforce Wallet & Consumer Services at Ceridian, Seth Ross brings nearly 20 years' of experience to oversee the development, launch, and implementation of Dayforce Wallet, Ceridian's market-leading pay solution that enables employees to access their earned wages at any time.
Prior to joining Ceridian, Ross led Green Dot Corporation's Banking-as-a-Service business, where he helped build new, embedded financial services businesses with partners like Apple, Uber, Intuit, Stash and others. Before that, he led the global airline partnerships strategy for American Express and helped launch Amex Advance, a division focused on data commercialization.
Ross holds a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Ivey Business School at Western University in London, Ontario, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
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.
