No. 2 TIME | Money Poll

We’re making tough choices in a new age of austerity, yet we still believe in the American Dream. Below, more findings from the financial-values survey conducted by TIME and Money.

[The following text appears within 5 charts. Please see hardcopy for actual charts.]

OUR VIEWS ON…

Current economic conditions

Poor 64%

Fair 31%

Good 5%

Excellent 1%

Current economic conditions vs. last year

Worse 44%

Same 45%

Better 9%

Don’t know 1%

Nearly half of us are worried about personal financial security, about the same proposition as in 2008

Length of time for the economy to start to recover

5%

12%

21%

18%

15%

25%

SIX MONTHS

ONE YEAR

TWO YEARS

THREE YEARS

MORE THAN THREE YEARS

START OF A LONG-TERM DECLINE

PERSONAL FINANCES

WE ARE FEELING THE EFFECTS OF THE DOWNTURN…

40% used college or retirement savings to pay bills

29% borrowed money from family or friends to pay bills

13% have been hungry because they could not afford food

7% have lost their home because they could not afford their rent or mortgage

27% have gone without health insurance

34% have been unemployed, not by personal choice

70% cut back on vacations or entertainment

…AND SINCE 2008 WE ARE MOST CONCERNED ABOUT

77% Outsourcing jobs to other countries

54% Being able to find a new job if they lose theirs

…AND LESS CONCERNED ABOUT

47% Having adequate health insurance

57% Keeping up with high fuel and energy costs

Almost 2/3 of us would take a pay cut to keep our job

COST CUTTING

We are doing more ourselves

29% Repairs and maintenance

28% Housecleaning

23% Lawn care and yard work

21% Auto repairs

15% Cutting hair

BELIEF AND VALUES

We are less sure our children will achieve the American Dream

[This article contains a table. Please see hardcopy of magazine.]

From a TIME/Money survey of 1,000 Americans age 18 and older. Because of rounding, figures may not total 100. Margin of error is ±4 percentage points

For more of the TIME/Money survey, go to time.com/financialvalues