There were a few bright spots for consumers in a challenging year.
Many Americans are ending the year feeling gloomy about their finances, and you don’t need to be a psychiatrist to figure out why.
A recession appears to be imminent: “2022, like the last couple of years, has put a strain on the American consumer’s finances,” said Rachel Gittleman, financial services outreach manager at Consumer Federation of America, a national network of consumer advocacy nonprofits. But amid 2022’s economic turbulence, there were a few bright spots when it came to Americans’ wallets.1. Stocks were ‘on sale’ Markets were pummeled this year, a worrisome trend for anyone who needed to tap into retirement or college savings. But for people just getting started in investing and saving, the declines in the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA and S&P 500 SPX was a buying opportunity, said some observers.
But separate from that broad debt-relief effort, some smaller groups of student-loan borrowers saw their debts shrink or disappear in 2022. The U.S. Department of Education canceled $6 billion in debt for 200,000 former students who were allegedly defrauded by their colleges. After years of complaints about the debt relief program for public servants, the Biden administration moved to cancel $24 billion in debt for 36,000 borrowers in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.
5. Bye-bye surprise medical bills Unexpected medical bills — which can happen even to insured people when they use an out-of-network provider or lab — can do serious long-term damage to people’s finances. In 2022, the practice of “surprise billing” was mostly outlawed when the Trump-era “No Surprises Act” went into effect. The law ushered in a host of protections for consumers who need medical care, including in emergency situations.
7. An ‘exceptionally strong’ labor market The alleged trend of “quiet quitting” grabbed media attention this year. But plenty of employees were, by official measures, working more than ever. The U.S. had an “exceptionally strong” job market in 2022, said Josh Bevins, director of research at the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, with 4.3 million jobs created through November. That was the second-best performance since 1940, he said, with the first-best being 2021.
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