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from the I-can-spend-until-I-reach-my-credit-limit,-right? dept.
If you have credit card debt, it may be time to scale back what you spend on luxury purchases.
But we’re not talking about doing without small luxuries like your morning coffee or an afternoon snack – things like your car loan or lease, leisure travel, dining and more can make a bigger difference.
A new CreditCards.com poll shows U.S. consumers who have credit card debt are outspending debt-free households in seven of nine discretionary spending categories (see chart). However, few are willing to cut back on any of their luxury purchases.
In fact, 18 percent of Americans who have credit card debt are unwilling to trim expenses in nine categories, including dining out, leisure travel and clothing (see chart). This despite the fact that the average credit card APR is nearly 18 percent.
[...]Our luxury spending poll also found:
- Many can live without dining out. Dining and takeout is the category all respondents – in debt or not – are most willing to cut in half. Still, less than half of those with credit card debt (48 percent) would trim their dining budgets, which average $2,186 per year.
- But vacations are a big budget item many won’t budge on. The average household with card debt spends $2,211 per year on leisure travel. But only 3 in 10 of those respondents would be willing to cut their travel spending in half.
- Cars, haircuts and cellphone plans are the biggest must-haves. The three categories people in debt were least willing to cut in half are personal care and beauty (23 percent), cellphone services and upgrades (25 percent) and car loans or leases (26 percent).
- Cut my streaming? You’re dreaming. Only 39 percent of respondents with debt would be willing to cut back on subscriptions services such as Netflix, Spotify and Xbox Live. However, at $1,198 per year, it’s the second-least-costly luxury expense among this group.
https://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/luxury-spending-poll/
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 12 2019, @06:29PM (4 children)
Somehow it is supposed to be surprising that people who make bad financial decisions (carry credit card debt) also make other bad financial decisions (unwilling to trim luxury expenses to get out from under credit card debt)?
But really, this should be no surprise at all. Far too many american's subscribe to the "keeping up with the jonses" mentality and all this article has shown is that there are a lot of folks who are fueling their "self image" signaling by simply shoving the costs off onto a credit card.
Quiz, you see the following walking down the street:
Which one is more likely to be "wealthy" -- where "wealthy" is defined as: "has FU money". [1]
Sadly, in the US, the one most likely to be the one with FU money is #2.
[1] https://www.quora.com/What-is-fuck-you-money [quora.com]
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Friday July 12 2019, @09:28PM
FU money:
$10 for a B-job
$50 for sex
$100 all night?
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 12 2019, @10:09PM
Or in my case the one with coffee spots on his free T-shirt and holes in his jeans. If you have FU money, your need to dress to impress is attenuated.
(Score: 1) by Coward, Anonymous on Saturday July 13 2019, @06:00AM (1 child)
You should be careful about criticizing people's life choices. Young people have lots of energy but often little money. Why not spend money now and pay it off when you're a more dead? Or maybe declare bankruptcy and wipe the slate clean. Being frugal isn't necessarily a virtue, it could be a sign of repression.
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by khallow on Saturday July 13 2019, @06:29AM
Sure, if you're a millionaire wearing newspaper for underwear because you obsess over the few pennies you save, then you might be repressed.
But if you're a normal person where modest curtailments in your spending behavior can result in a substantial better life years from now, then your worry is greatly misplaced.
But then again, getting up in the morning might be a sign of repression. Should you really be doing that?
Because you can make that future suck less. Also, you hear a lot of older people complain about how stupid they were as youth. This is one of the big ways you can be stupid.