Survey: Small business owners upbeat about financial well-being
BUSINESS RECORD STAFF Oct 14, 2015 | 4:02 pm
1 min read time
317 wordsAll Latest News, Economic DevelopmentSmall business owners are feeling more confident about the current and future state of the economy as well as the prospects for their companies, according to new research from Principal Financial Group Inc.
Nearly 45 percent of U.S. small business owners polled said they are optimistic about the U.S. economy, up from 26 percent in 2012, according to The Principal Financial Well-Being Index: Business Owners.
The survey, conducted online by the Harris Poll from July 29 to Aug. 26, included 600 business owners nationwide who own at least 5 percent of a company in the United States with 10 to 500 employees and are actively involved in company management.
Among those business owners, 92 percent rate the financial health of their businesses as growing or stable. Two-thirds added staff, and roughly as many feel their financials have improved in the past year.
“We are seeing a clear rise in financial confidence from small business owners,” said Amy Friedrich, a senior vice president at Principal. “When business owners are adding jobs, increasing wages and adding benefits, we know they’re feeling good about their business, which bodes well for economic growth.”
However, of the 74 percent of business owners who report having surplus capital, more than three-quarters (77 percent) are not spending it. They most commonly cite saving for future growth, economic uncertainty and lessons from the economic crisis as their primary reason for not spending surplus capital.
In a separate national report released Tuesday by Gallup-Healthways, Iowa ranked ninth among the states for the financial well-being of its residents.
According to the report, people who are thriving in financial well-being also tend to thrive in purpose, social and community well-being; better physical health; and have better outcomes in other key well-being items.
In 2014, only 39 percent of respondents nationally said they were thriving in financial well-being, while a majority of Americans (61 percent) said they were struggling in this element.
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