Looking ahead to the all-important holiday shopping season, a warning for retailers: More than three quarters of all U.S. adults surveyed (76%) plan to cut back on spending for non-essential items and 62% expect to cut back on essential items "sometimes" or "more often" over the next six months, the survey found.
Just how acutely consumers reported feeling the impact of the current economic situation varied among socio-economic groups. And it wasn't always those making the least that reported feeling most pinched.
More than half (55%) of households earning $50,000 or less (lower-income) said they're feeling the impact of the economy on their personal finances, while 61% of households $50,000 to $100,000 (middle-income) and 46% of households making at least $100,000 (higher-income) reported the same.
This marks a significant improvement in sentiment for higher income households from our prior survey. In June, more than half of higher-income consumers (55%) said they were feeling a negative impact on their finances. Higher-income households are in fact moving toward feeling that the economic situation is having a positive impact (30% in September, up from 21% in June.)
