Cesar Chavez’s observation seemingly still applies long after his passing.
“We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community… Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own,” the famous labor rights activist once said.
A recent study of 10,000 Americans lends credibility to his argument.
Community involvement is paramount to most Americans’ well-being—both personally and financially—according to You Get What You Give: The MassMutual 2018 Financial Wellness and Community Involvement Study.
Almost half of those surveyed reported that “community participation improves their finances, and nearly seven in 10 (69 percent) say community involvement is important to their overall well-being.”
While 40 percent of Americans experience financial-related anxiety, being community-oriented tends to somewhat mitigate those feelings and foster a greater sense of financial security, study results showed. In fact, 60 percent of community-involved respondents indicated “being either comfortable or confident in their current and future financial well-being.”
To feel more secure, maybe we just all need someone to lean on? The survey showed 53 percent of people “have supported someone in their community in a time of financial stress, and 24 percent have been supported by others in their community during a time of need.”
Respondents identified their communities as mostly being made up of family (86 percent), friends (65 percent) or neighbors (50 percent). And unsurprisingly, members of communities are connecting in-person, as well as online.
“What truly built this nation over the years was people from all walks of life coming together to create a better, more secure life for themselves, their loved ones, and their communities at large,” Dennis Duquette, MassMutual’s head of community responsibility and president of the MassMutual Foundation, commented. “It is remarkably gratifying to see research support what intuition has long told us, that those who are more confident in their financial future are also more likely to say that community involvement is important.”
Jessa Claeys is a writer, editor and graphic designer.
