8 in 10 Americans Holding Holiday Spend Steady

Lower Gas Prices Aren't Prompting Americans to Spend; Millennials Most Likely to Spend More

News provided by

Dec 11, 2014, 08:00 ET

NEW YORK, Dec. 11, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- A whopping 82% of Americans do not plan on spending more this holiday season despite lower gasoline prices, according to a new Bankrate.com (NYSE: RATE) report. Only 16% plan to spend more this year on the holidays – 5% will spend more because of lower gas prices and 11% plan to spend more, but not specifically because of gas prices.

The idea of not spending more this holiday season was consistent across age, income and education levels, but millennials had the lowest propensity to hold back on their spending this year. Seventy-one percent of millennials said they would not spend more this year, compared to 84-86% among their older counterparts.

Millennials are the most likely (28%) to say they would spend more this holiday season, with 8% attributing higher spending to the drop in gas prices and 20% being inclined to spend more regardless of the gas price situation.

"Despite consumers' improved feelings of financial security, there is still a prevailing sense of unease when it comes to discretionary spending and the lack of emergency savings," said Greg McBride, CFA, Bankrate.com chief financial analyst. "But with some millennials, even loads of student debt and little savings won't hold them back from splurging during the holiday shopping season."

The Financial Security Index came in at 102.0, the highest level since March and the third highest reading of 2014. Any reading above 100 indicates improved financial security compared to one year ago, while any reading below 100 indicates deterioration in financial security over the preceding year.

Readings on net worth and overall financial situation posted notable improvement, while feelings of job security and comfort level with debt continue to show strength. Savings remains the laggard among financial security metrics, with the level of discomfort unchanged from one month ago and little changed throughout 2014.

Men's and women's feelings of financial security both posted improved readings over those of one month ago. Overall, men's feelings of financial security (104.1) indicate improvement over one year ago while women's feelings of financial security (99.9) indicate deterioration by the slightest of margins.

The survey was conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International (PSRAI) and can be seen in its entirety here:

http://www.bankrate.com/finance/consumer-index/holiday-spending-unfazed-by-lower-gas-prices.aspx

PSRAI obtained telephone interviews with a nationally representative sample of 1,001 adults living in the continental United States. Interviews were conducted by landline (501) and cell phone (500, including 289 without a landline phone) in English and Spanish by Princeton Data Source from December 4-7, 2014. Statistical results are weighted to correct known demographic discrepancies. The margin of sampling error for the complete set of weighted data is plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.

About Bankrate, Inc.

Bankrate is a leading publisher, aggregator, and distributor of personal finance content on the Internet. Bankrate provides consumers with proprietary, fully researched, comprehensive, independent and objective personal finance editorial content across multiple vertical categories including mortgages, deposits, insurance, credit cards, and other categories, such as retirement, automobile loans, and taxes. The Bankrate network includes Bankrate.com, CreditCards.com, InsuranceQuotes.com and Caring.com, our flagship websites, and other owned and operated personal finance websites, including Interest.com, Bankaholic.com, Mortgage-calc.com, CreditCardGuide.com, CarInsuranceQuotes.com, Insweb.com, CreditCards.ca, and NetQuote.com. Bankrate aggregates rate information from over 4,800 institutions on more than 300 financial products. With coverage of over 600 local markets, Bankrate generates rate tables in all 50 U.S. states. Bankrate develops and provides web services to over 100 co-branded websites with online partners, including some of the most trusted and frequently visited personal finance sites on the Internet such as Yahoo!, AOL, CNBC, and Bloomberg. In addition, Bankrate licenses editorial content to over 500 newspapers on a daily basis including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The Boston Globe.

For more information:

Caroline Farhat
Publicist, Bankrate, Inc.
[email protected]
(917) 368-8638

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130805/FL58072LOGO

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/8-in-10-americans-holding-holiday-spend-steady-300008188.html

SOURCE Bankrate