Question of the day: What do Americans expect from their finances in the coming year?

Answer:

Household financial forecasts for the next year:

1. Getting better: 31%
2. Stay the same: 41%
3. Getting worse: 28%

To ask:

• Think about the coming year. What do you expect or hope your year will look like?
• Are you surprised by the data? Why or why not?
• Do you think personal factors (such as job changes) or social factors (such as inflation) have a greater impact on people’s predictions for the coming year? Why?

Click here for the ready-made slides of this Question of the Day that you can use in your classroom.

Behind the numbers (New York Federal Reserve):

“The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Center for Microeconomic Data today released the December 2025 Survey of Consumer Expectations, showing that household inflation expectations rose in the short term and remained unchanged over the medium and longer term. Expectations for finding jobs fell to a series of lows—the second set of lows for the measure in six months—while expectations for job losses also deteriorated. Expectations for growth in household spending and incomes were largely unchanged unchanged pandemic, but respondents were more optimistic about the future financial situation of their households.”

“Perceptions about the current financial situation of households have improved compared to a year ago, with a smaller share of households reporting a worse financial situation and a larger share of households reporting a better financial situation. Expectations for the coming years about the financial situation of households have also improved, with a smaller share of households expecting a worse financial situation and a larger share of households expecting a better financial situation (the highest since February 2025) in a year.”

About the author

Kathryn Dawson

Kathryn (she/her) is excited to join the NGPF team after 9 years of experience in education as a mentor, tutor, and special education teacher. She graduated from Cornell University with a degree in policy analysis and management and received a master’s degree in education from Brooklyn College. Kathryn looks forward to bringing her passion for accessibility and educational justice to curriculum design at NGPF. In her free time, Kathryn enjoys tackling cooking projects, walking her dog around the Seattle neighborhood, or lounging in a hammock with a book.

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