Teetering: Why So Many Live on a Financial Tightrope and What to Do about It

Nearly half of all American adults live paycheck to paycheck. These misunderstood majority of “tightropers” spend time, effort, and tons of emotional energy balancing their lack of capital with increasing demands on those limited financial resources. Economic instability is the new normal across all income levels. Teetering: How to Bring Stability to the Millions of Americans Living on a Financial Tightrope addresses the critical question, what’s wrong with American policies and the financial institutions that are failing so many hard-working people today? It merges original research with stories from real-life “tightropers” and makes the case for urgent action by financial institutions, innovators, investors, regulators, policymakers, and influencers to recognize and change the financial forces that push the American dream out of reach for nearly half of the adult populace. Teetering proposes common-ground solutions that work regardless of political leaning and provides a roadmap for how innovators can serve this growing need and for how banks and others can start saying “yes” to their customers again.