1. An even scarier economy.

Two thirds of respondents say that they're afraid the economy will get even scarier over the next 12 months. And what with all those tariffs coming home to roost on good Scotch whisky, Swiss chocolates, French wines and Italian cheeses, how will they manage to celebrate and toast the New Year?

What's scary about a recent WalletHub survey is how many respondents said their finances were a "horror show." Read on to see what we're all running from, whether real or imagined. (Photo: Getty)

9. Recession.

A whopping 70 percent of people are "somewhat" or "very" fearful of a recession. Considering the overall state of the U.S. economy, between trade wars, stubbornly small pay increases and tax cuts that somehow manage to miss the majority of the population, this is probably not an unreasonable concern.(All photos: Shutterstock)

8. Politicians preying on people's financial fears.

Even more than believing in a coming recession, 89 percent of respondents say that politicians actually prey on people's financial worries. Nah—they wouldn't really do that, would they?

7. Credit card debt.

More people are actually scared of credit card debt than they are of snakes, with 54 percent fearing the former and 46 percent fearing the latter. Wonder how that would shake out on a plane…

6. Financial futures.

Naturally enough, 59 percent of people are more worried about their own financial futures than they are about their kids' or grandkids'. Makes sense, since the majority of parents and around a third of grandparents say they're contributing financially to grown kids' or to grandkids' needs, with many going so far as to dip into retirement savings to do so. At that rate, they won't have anything left for themselves.

5. Money.

Yep, more even than politics (24 percent), health (18 percent), even terrorism (12 percent) and the economy itself or work (8 percent each), 30 percent of respondents are the most frightened or stressed about money.

4. Unplanned emergency.

So if money is people's biggest fear, their biggest financial fear is an unplanned emergency (is there any other kind?), with 25 percent citing that as their biggest fear. Not enough retirement savings comes in next, at 24 percent, while job loss (18 percent), fraud (15 percent), loss of health insurance (10 percent) and poor credit (8 percent) round out the list.

3. Nightmares about money problems.

Overwhelming student debt, low salaries, low raises, high premiums and a cost of living that outpaces most increases—what's not to like? It's no wonder that 37 percent of people admit to having nightmares about such lie-awake problems.

2. Medical bills.

Now this is a pervasive worry: 44 percent of respondents say that medical bills are the expense they fear most. And no wonder, since they're almost impossible to quantify, reappear just when you thought your insurance covered them (surprise!) and are often the focus of hospital collections and lawsuits that can drive people into bankruptcy and despair. (That's not to say they're not worried about rents and mortgages (29 percent), credit cards (20 percent) and car loans (7 percent), but let's keep our priorities straight here; the constantly morphing character of medical bills definitely makes them more fearsome.)

1. An even scarier economy.

Two thirds of respondents say that they're afraid the economy will get even scarier over the next 12 months. And what with all those tariffs coming home to roost on good Scotch whisky, Swiss chocolates, French wines and Italian cheeses, how will they manage to celebrate and toast the New Year?