Survey: Understanding the Financial Stress of the Holiday Season

October 12, 2020

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The holidays are fast approaching, and Covid-19 is reshaping the way people will celebrate this year. Many Americans are already feeling the seasonal stress, but they are also considering how their holiday spending may be impacted. This September, Marcus by Goldman Sachs conducted a survey of more than 1,500 Americans on the topic of holiday spending to learn more.

Here are a few key highlights from our findings:

How Americans are feeling

Half of Americans (50%) feel that holiday gift-buying is the most financially stressful event throughout the year.
More than half of Americans (56%) are most looking forward to spending time with family and friends this holiday season while 17% of Americans are not looking forward to this holiday season.

When and where Americans plan to spend

More than half of Americans (56%) plan to shop in-store for gifts this year.
29% of Americans will start holiday shopping in November this year, followed by October (24%) and December (10%).
Almost half of Americans (49%) plan on sending gifts to family and friends that they won’t be seeing during the holidays.
Nearly half of Americans (47%) are likely to choose to receive no gifts this holiday season, in exchange for avoiding the financial expense and hassle of buying gifts for others this year.

How spending has been affected by Covid-19

More than a quarter of Americans (27%) think they will spend less on holiday gifts this year compared to last year.
Of those surveyed who think they’ll spend less on holiday gifts this year, more than half (54%) said it will be because they have less money to spend due to Covid-19.
Two-thirds of Americans (66%) think they will spend the same or more on holiday gifts this year compared to last year.
Of those surveyed who think they’ll spend more on holiday gifts this year, 44% said it will be because they are sending gifts to family and friends that they’re not seeing.
Of those surveyed who think they’ll spend more on holiday gifts this year, 36% said it will be because they saved more money due to Covid-19.

The Holiday Spending Survey was conducted by Marcus by Goldman Sachs in September 2020 among 1,500 Americans.

View results from survey conducted in November 2019

Holiday Spending Survey was conducted by Marcus by Goldman Sachs® in November of 2019 among 1,509 Americans.

Financial stress around the holidays is real

67% of Americans consider the winter holiday season to be the most financially stressful season of the year.
60% of Americans find holiday gift-buying to be the most financially stressful event of the year followed by tax season (24%).

How spending and gift giving plays a role

Nearly half of Americans (49%) say it is likely they will carry a balance on their credit card after the holidays this year due to holiday-related expenses.
Of those who will carry a balance on their credit card after the holidays due to holiday-related expenses, almost half (48%) of Americans think they will add $500 or more to their credit card balance after the holiday season this year.
Nearly two thirds of Americans (65%) say that it is likely that they will end up spending more money than they’d like this holiday season.
62% of Americans are likely to choose to receive no gifts this holiday season, in exchange for avoiding the financial expense and hassle of buying gifts for others this year.
43% of Americans start planning for holiday expenses 1 to 2 months in advance.

How travel plays a role

Of those who book holiday travel, 60% of Americans are willing to travel on an actual holiday to save on travel costs.
Almost two-thirds of Americans who are traveling for the holidays (63%) never fly first class..
Almost three-quarters of Americans (74%) actively look for travel deals if they book travel for the holidays.
More than half of Americans traveling for the holidays (53%) will try to use their travel rewards from their credit cards to cover their holiday travel costs.

This article is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for individualized professional advice. Articles on this site were commissioned and approved by Marcus by Goldman Sachs®, but may not reflect the institutional opinions of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., Goldman Sachs Bank USA or any of their affiliates, subsidiaries or divisions.