Guess the percentage who expect their finances to: a) get better, b) get worse, or c) stay the same.

Answer:

Household financial predictions for the next year:

1. Get better: 31%
2. Stay the same: 41%
3. Get worse: 28%
   
   

Questions:

• Think about the upcoming year. What are you expecting or hoping your year will look like?
• Were you surprised by the data? Why or why not?
• Do you think personal factors (ie. job changes) or societal factors (ie. inflation) have a larger impact on people’s predictions for the next year? Why?

Click here for the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day you can use in your classroom.

Behind the numbers (NY Federal Reserve): 

"The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Center for Microeconomic Data today released the December 2025 Survey of Consumer Expectations, which shows that households’ inflation expectations increased at the short-term horizon and remained unchanged at the medium- and longer-term horizons. Job finding expectations declined to a series low—the second series low for the measure in six months—while job loss expectations also worsened. Spending and household income growth expectations remained largely unchanged. Delinquency expectations deteriorated to the highest level since the onset of the pandemic, but respondents were more optimistic about their future household financial situations."

"Perceptions about households’ current financial situations compared to a year ago improved, with a smaller share of households reporting a worse financial situation and a larger share of households reporting a better financial situation. Year-ahead expectations about households’ financial situations also improved, with a smaller share of households expecting a worse financial situation and a larger share of households expecting a better financial situation (the highest since February 2025) in one year from now."

About the Author

Kathryn Dawson

Kathryn (she/her) is excited to join the NGPF team after 9 years of experience in education as a mentor, tutor, and special education teacher. She is a graduate of Cornell University with a degree in policy analysis and management and has a master's degree in education from Brooklyn College. Kathryn is looking forward to bringing her passion for accessibility and educational justice into curriculum design at NGPF. During her free time, Kathryn loves embarking on cooking projects, walking around her Seattle neighborhood with her dog, or lounging in a hammock with a book.