Posted on 11/20/2012 10:27:12 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Despite a whittling away of consumer debt that has been underway since the recession, many Americans are still entering the holiday season unprepared to cope with the expenses that crop up around this time of year.
Think Finance, a provider of payday loans and other financial services for consumers with limited or no access to banking services, recently surveyed 1,000 Americans across all income levels who use various forms of alternative financial services — including payday loans, prepaid debit cards and direct deposit advances.
Although many of these consumers are on better financial footing and optimistic about their economic future this year, the holidays are still a source of stress and strain on their precarious finances, Think Finance said in the poll.
Some 45 percent of those polled said the holiday season brings so much financial pressure, they would prefer to skip it altogether. Almost half said their level of stress related to holiday expenses is high or extremely high.
That’s probably because nearly the same amount — some 45 percent — say they do not expect to have enough money set aside to cover holiday expenses.
Although those percentages are high, they are an improvement over a survey Think Finance conducted last year. However, it should be noted that survey focused only on consumers who earned less than $50,000 and used alternative financial services, while this year’s survey also polled consumers in higher income brackets. That suggests the financial anxiety may be more widespread than it had been in prior years.
Eight-five percent of those in this year’s survey plan to spend the same amount of money or less on gifts this year, with 54 percent planning to spend $500 or less, and 27 percent planning to spend between $500 and $1,000 on holiday gifts.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
polls ? really?? I don’t believe anything now with the polls. they are propaganda.
Seems to me people just voted for Christmas to be every day of the year.
I don't feel that anymore.
This is just a push poll story by the media to start the ball rolling with “giving to the poor, the government or some welfare queen” instead of indulging yourself or your family. Michelle O will also be chiming in about this I expect.
I heard some bitch on CNN today badgering some PR guy from Walmart why they won’t give their associates a ‘living wage’ and sacrificing their profits to do it.
The new dialog is here, folks...Democrats and ideologues are now confident in their castigation of excess (in their eyes). A constantly moving mark, kept up by the weekly talking points that constantly re-focus the administration’s public bugaboos.
Keep celebrating the birth of the Messiah, forget santa.
Another plank of the Communist manifesto fulfilled, or mightily on its way.
Was nice knowing you, America.
What I like to do for Christmas is take my loved ones and closest friends out to eat.
I don’t buy gifts at that time as a matter of habit. If there is something I really want to give to someone in particular, then I will, but that’s pretty rare.
This isn’t annual buy, shopping, spend season to me, I do not care about that at all.
I say let’s move Christmas to the REAL birth month of Yashua, sometime late September.
Gee, after Nov. 6th I would have thought this number to be 47%./sarc
Five years ago our family decided to stop the gifts. The kids get a few things and that is it. We get together, share the joy, have a little fun, like kareoke, and enjoy the company.
The charge card spending ended. We are all happier.
Nobody needs all the crap. It is so nice to enjoy things without the spending and the bills rolling in after the holiday.
Cmon cnbc admit it, the real source of the info is the WHITEHOUSE!
“Financial pressure”? Really? Christmas is a spiritual experience. Embrace that and find peace in your heart. Reconnect with your family. Realize that the rest of the secular world is rotten but in this holiest of seasons, you can find peace in Christ. It’s easy.
maybe they can celebrate in church?
I don’t celebrate it at all and haven’t in about 10 years, so it’s an amazingly stress-free time for me. Back when I did celebrate it, in my early 20s, the best Christmas I had was with a group of friends, and we were all flat-broke college students with part-time jobs. We did Secret Santa and the rules were that it had to be under $10 and as homemade as possible. That was a great year. We opened our bizarre presents: incense holder made of play-doh, bootleg U2 cassette with handdrawn cover, embroidered handkerchief made into a sachet, a gift box of assorted candies leftover from Halloween... it was fun! Then we had our ravioli potluck and drank. It was my best Christmas, I think.
Christmas comes every time your use your EBT card or free gummint-provided cellphone or $9.95/mo internet service - and Uncle Sam has traded those old-fashioned red, white, and blue duds in for a Santa suit!
That's the key to a Merry Christmas, isn't it? Watching the Pope deliver the midnight mass has been a long tradition in our home that our kids are carrying on with their kids. Forget the pressure of having to buy gifts and run yourself into debt.
The troubles will still be there later, just enjoy Christmas.
“What I like to do for Christmas is take my loved ones and closest friends out to eat.”
Same here. I learned with my family that Chinese restaurants do not care about holidays and they are open on those days, including New Year.
“It has become overly consumerist.I see evidence of it every time I come to the grand children’s home with toys on the floor.”
This is a result of the family NOT keeping the reason for the season alive in the hearts of their children. God sees and understands this, and knows who and who isn’t thinking of our Lord on this blessed day.
Consumers, and that is we the people have allowed the consumerism of the season to take center stage. It will always be up to the people of this nation to determine its nature, culture and faith. I fear it is a losing proposition considering the course this county has taken since the baby boomers have come into power.
I will take a return to faith, without fear of consequence, before this country will again be blessed.
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