Americans Ring in New Year with Improved Financial Security Sentiments

BLOOMINGTON, Ill., Feb. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Americans are beginning 2011 with renewed confidence as financial security sentiments reached their highest level since April 2010. The COUNTRY Financial Security Index® rose 0.8 points to 64.9 in February. This marks the first time Americans have started the year with improved sentiments since the COUNTRY Index began in 2007.

The optimism may be due to Americans sticking to their fiscal resolutions. According to last month's COUNTRY Financial survey, 21 percent planned to boost savings in 2011. Nearly half (47 percent) set aside money this month, up three points since December and the largest percentage in more than a year. Forty-one percent rate their overall level of financial security positively, up three points from December. Confidence in the ability to pay debts remained stable at 76 percent.

"For three years, we've seen signs of a holiday financial hangover through a decrease in the COUNTRY Index. Americans appear to be bucking this trend, perhaps because people spent within their means in late 2010," said Keith Brannan, vice president of Financial Security Planning at COUNTRY Financial. "It's encouraging that Americans are feeling more optimistic and short-term sentiments have improved. Yet, it's important to remember that financial security is also about the long-term and planning for the future."

Long-term confidence still uncertain

Despite recent increases in short-term confidence, pessimism still persists in regards to long-term financial security.

• Those confident in their ability to send their children to college dropped four points to 55 percent.
• Americans who say they will have enough money to enjoy a comfortable retirement dipped one point to 54 percent.

Women's short-term optimism increases; men more pessimistic

• Women who rate their overall financial security positively (41 percent) jumped five points. Men, on the other hand, dropped one point to 41 percent.
• Forty-six percent of women say they were able to save this month, up 8 percent from December. Men saying the same dipped two points to 48 percent.

Full data is available at www.countryfinancialsecurityindex.com.

Individuals can learn more and compare their own results with the national COUNTRY Financial Security Index.  The next COUNTRY Financial Security Index will be released April 19, 2011 and subsequently every other month.

The COUNTRY Financial Security Index

The COUNTRY Financial Security Index® is a bi-monthly measure of Americans' sentiments toward their overall financial security.  It is an aggregate of various factors comprising financial security including savings and investments, financial planning, retirement, education and asset protection.

The COUNTRY Index was created by COUNTRY Financial  and is compiled by Rasmussen Reports, LLC, an independent research firm, based on a national telephone survey of at least 3,000 Americans.

The margin of sampling error for a survey based on this many interviews is approximately +/- 2 percentage points with a 95 percent level of confidence.

About COUNTRY

COUNTRY Financial (http://www.countryfinancial.com) serves about one million households and businesses throughout the United States.  It offers a full range of financial products and services from auto, home and life insurance to retirement planning services, investment management and annuities.

SOURCE COUNTRY Financial