Companies that promote getting into debt are at the center of Americans' inability to save, says a senior official of a polling company.
A survey released Monday by Harris Interactive found nearly three-quarters of Americans are worried they won't have enough money to retire or pay for healthcare once they do retire.
While Americans have a "clear anxiety" about their financial situation, "the financial services industry continues to focus its marketing on products and services related to spending and further debt accumulation," David Krane, Harris Interactive's senior vice president, said in a statement accompanying the survey.
Many companies in the industry failed to take advantage of opportunities to help consumers reduce their debt and now face a 'trust disadvantage" in growing their businesses, he said.
Harris said a survey in August found 74 percent of people not yet retired worry about having enough money to do so, with only 41 percent saying they "have faith in Social Security being there when I retire."
About 73 percent said they were worried about being able to pay for healthcare once they did retire.
The survey found nearly half of Americans -- 47 percent -- living from paycheck to paycheck, unable to save for any needs or emergencies.
About 44 percent of families with children were concerned about saving for college, the poll found, compared to 10 percent of households with no children. Of those saving for their children's' college, 55 percent said they had cut back on "rainy day" funds while 42 percent said they had sacrificed their saving for retirement.
The poll was conducted Aug. 13 through 20 with 2,307 adults.
