Survey: 26% of Missourians lose optimism in personal finances

Missouri consumers appear to be less optimistic about their personal finance situation, according to data from Arvest Bank’s spring Consumer Sentiment Survey.

The survey found 26 percent of Missouri consumers felt they are worse off financially now than they were a year earlier. That’s up from 16 percent in Arvest’s fall survey, according to a news release.

“Relative weakness in the stock market has certainly had an impact on near-term consumer confidence,” said Missouri State University Bureau of Economic Research Director David Mitchell, who was retained by Arvest to analyze the survey results, in the release. “It is also likely that continued political uncertainty is having an effect.”

Conducted by the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Arkansas Sam M. Walton College of Business, the study analyzes the results of over 1,200 random phone and online surveys performed by the University of Oklahoma’s Public Opinion Learning Laboratory. The study conducted twice a year examines a regional outlook, as well as that of residents in Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas.

In the spring survey, 23 percent of Missourians polled said their personal finances were better off than a year ago, and 50 percent indicated they were the same. In a year’s time, 37 percent expect their finances to be better off, 52 percent think they’ll be the same and 11 percent predict they’ll be worse off.

In the three-state region, 26 percent said they’re worse off than a year ago. Of those polled regionally, 12 percent felt they’d be worse off in a year, according to the release.