How the rising cost of living is impacting everyday Americans.

<div class="block">Despite inflation tampering down, Americans continue to report rising costs of living. Patrick Stal, chief marketing officer at Zepz, parent company of WorldRemit, joined &#39;Stretching Your Dollar,&#39; to talk about WorldRemit&#39;s 2023 Cost of Living survey. It found that more than 70 percent of people reported an increase in the daily cost of living while a third also reported a decrease in disposable income.</div>
<div class="block"><i>Updated October 9, 2023 at 11:45 a.m. to note the findings came from WorldRemit&#39;s 2023 Cost of Living survey.</i></div>

Stretching Your Dollar

Stretching Your Dollar: Americans Say Cost of Living is More Expensive

Life has definitely gotten more expensive. And even though inflation has come down from last year's very fast paces, the majority of people in the US said that they haven't seen an increase, that they've seen an increase in the daily cost of living according to global payments company, world remit. So joining me now to explain the findings and how we can tackle this is Patrick Stall, the CEO of the group leading world remit. I hope I got that right. Uh But first, ok, good. So let's go over what this report found for people based in the US. Absolutely. First of all, thanks for having me. I'm not the chief executive officer, but the Chief Marketing Officer, which means I get to do a lot of work with customers and how they currently feel around the world. And let me tell you, I'm not at all surprised around the outcome of that poll that you ran. It's definitely in line with what we're seeing generally. So we ran a survey very recently among a very special type of customer which is our customer. These are people that are real heroes and sending money home. Um As remittances to family and friends abroad every, every week, every month. And among them, we found absolutely shocking results when it came to the cost of living and their view around that, over 60% of respondents in the US state that their disposable income has either stayed the same or decreased in the past year. And over a third of respondents noted a significant increase in housing costs which is really almost a 30% increase from 2022. Now, shockingly, one in five us respondents say that they are currently having to choose between paying their bills and buying food. If you think about the larger impact of that on the world where 1 billion people currently rely on family and friends who are sending money to them from developed nations like the United States. That type of financial impact can be extremely large across the world. Why do you think so many people are feeling the pinch right now? I think it's a combination of probably three different factors. I think the first thing is talk of the town rising interest rates, right? And the direct impact of that to anybody with mortgage or interest related debt payments. So as their interest rates go up, as their payment costs go up, more of their disposable income will now flow into those basic costs. I think secondly, prices have been rising for a while. It's been over two years, right? And inflation has been on everybody's mind and So salaries haven't kept pace. And that token carton of milk gallon of fuel or a can of coke has crossed mental cost milestones that people are indeed noticing as you saw in your own survey as well. Last but not least, I think the savings that people used to have are running low. And we've seen data come out that it's at a 10 year low point. So we're finding Patrick similar across the globe, generally similar people were very concerned, but the levels in the US were quite elevated. Although in Australia, we did have numbers that were slightly higher than that where people reported 78% of people reported an increase in the daily cost of living. Now, 81% said that they felt utility costs specifically or were increasing in recent months, particularly pungent is the impact on global housing costs, as we said before, which is a real concern with 72% of global respondents reporting an upswing in mortgage and rent payments while close to 50% of respondents notice an increase in education which is a key cost as well for families. Let's drive in a little bit more Patrick on the categories where consumers are seeing the biggest increases. I think it's pretty much what we were talking about before. So the areas where people tell us they're hurting most whether that is really the case. But this is where people feel it emotionally for us audiences. Over 77% of respondents saw an increase in utility costs. Over 70% of respondents are seeing pain in their transit and commuting expenses. And the rest of the impact is really shown in those basic housing costs. If you are seeing an increase, what would you recommend to viewers to try to manage that? There's so much great advice out there. I think I'm probably not the best person to give it, but I know that you frequently have some amazing budgeting experts. And I really recommend people to take a look at some of that recent stretch, your dollar content for tips and tricks. Well, thank you. So, what about considering a second job? We'll have a lot of jobs data this week, Patrick. Do you think that that is something that people should be on the lookout for? Look? I think that's an incredible personal decision for families and knowing a lot of our customers who are economic migrants, a lot of them already carry two jobs. Having said that I think it's all about balancing your financial strain and stress with the strain and stress of taking on more work and having less personal family or care time. It's still though a very hot employment market, unemployment is an all time low. And so I know that there might be people out there that may want to hunt for that second job. Now, while there's a lot of a lot of jobs out there and secure that second income and a bit of income stability for the longer term. Now, now, at the same time for a lot of folks, gig platforms can continue to present a flexible way to earn an additional income on their terms on their time as they want. And so anything from delivering food for Uber eats or supporting child care as a caregiver can be really viable options for a couple of hours a day a week. Well, Patrick, based on your findings is the expectation that prices will change into 2024 1 way or the other. Look, I think if I had a definitive answer to that, I'd be asked by the fed to take Chairman Powell's job and they haven't called yet. But look, most of the data that we're seeing coming out of the US and other global economies is showing a steady cooling of inflation figures, but it's still there. And deflation has been a relatively unique economic phenomenon in the last 100 years. So I don't think we should expect prices to come down. And I probably think that we can say with some degree of certainty that where prices are today is where the new baseline will be for the future. And I think that's something we all need to plan for and budget for accordingly. Now, all of that, obviously excluding any major unforeseen sort of geopolitical or economic shocks. All right. C Patrick Stahl. Patrick, thank you so much. For joining and sharing the findings.