Infographic: Bad financial habits Americans most want to break

In contemplating the new year, about 4 in 10 Americans expect to make and actually keep a resolution of managing their money better in 2016, ranking almost equally with those who expect to make and keep diet and exercise goals (43 percent), according to a survey by Allianz Life.

To boost their financial health in the new year, respondents identified saving for emergencies as the top improvement they could make (21 percent), followed by paying off credit card debt (17 percent) and making a budget (11 percent).

When asked what detrimental financial habits they’d most like to overcome, the top two targets were spending too much on unneeded things (29 percent) and not saving as much as they could (28 percent).

Almost a third of respondents aren’t including financial planning in their 2016 goals because they feel they “don’t make enough money to worry about it.” Yet if offered free professional guidance to help with one of their resolutions, the top pick was a financial professional (37 percent), beating out nutritionists and dieticians at 28 percent and personal trainers at 23 percent.

Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America’s Seventh annual New Year’s Resolution Survey was conducted in November 2015 by Ipsos eNation U.S. Omnibus, with 1,006 respondents chosen randomly from an online panel of 500,000 U.S. adults. Released Dec. 15, the results were weighted to reflect the demographic composition of the U.S. as a whole.

See related:To get a fresh financial start, break bad, old money habits, More infographics

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