States in financial trouble – Don’t move there

While we concern ourselves with the state of the federal government, perhaps we should really be as much or more concerned with the financial stability of the state in which we live. This will determine how the basic safety of our family and ourselves fare. Fire, police and schools are impacted. Here tis:

Most people don’t consider this, but you should really look into the financial stability of any state that you’re thinking about moving to. If worse comes to worse, and the economy collapses, you want to make sure that the state you live in is fiscally responsible. States that have high debts and low credit ratings are living on the edge. Any major economic event could push them into bankruptcy.

That means pensions could go unfunded. Public services like law enforcement and firefighting would be understaffed. The infrastructure of the state would crumble, and public education would be decimated. Taxes would likely be increased, which would only exacerbate the financial problems of the state because businesses would leave, leading to more unemployment and a smaller tax base. Obviously, all of these factors could contribute to the risk of civil unrest.

So which states should you avoid? There are three factors you should look out for. There’s the amount of debt as a percentage of the state’s GDP, the amount of debt per person (debt per capita), and the state’s current credit rating.

The 10 states with the worst debt to GDP ratios are:

New York-22.71%

South Carolina-21.31%

Rhode Island-19.40%

Washington-18.83%

Florida-18.65%

Kentucky-18.50%

Illinois-18.45%

Connecticut-17.52%

California-17.18%

Pennsylvania-17.17

The 10 states with the most debt per person are:

Massachusetts-$11,337.63

Connecticut-$9,297.33

Rhode Island-$8,919.27

Alaska-$8,516.41

New Jersey-$7,517.15

New York-$7,040.97

Hawaii-$6,194.64

New Hampshire-$6,152.00

Delaware-$5,962.86

Vermont-$5,259.69

And perhaps the most important factor is the credit rating of any given state. This gives you a good idea of how investors think a state will fare financially in the future, as opposed to a state’s current financial woes. According to credit rating agencies like Standard and Poor’s, as of last year the states with the five worst credit ratings are: (Has interesting stats as well)

• Illinois-BBB
• New Jersey-A
• Kentucky-A+
• California-AA-
• Connecticut-AA-

More at Preppers Blueprint