Studies and Data Analysis

Shopping during annual sale events

• In the past 12 months, 39% of Americans have taken advantage of an annual sale event to buy something they were already planning to buy.

• In the past 12 months, 29% of Americans bought something they weren’t planning to buy during an annual sale event.

• In the past 12 months, 16% of Americans have regretted buying something they weren’t planning to buy during an annual sale event.

*The examples we provided for "annual sale events" include Amazon Prime Days, Target Circle Week and Black Friday.

Reluctance to using autopay

Autopay — the automatic payment of bills (utilities, credit cards, etc.) from your bank account — can help simplify your financial life by giving you one (or many) less things to worry about. But our nationally-representative survey conducted online by The Harris Poll found two reasons some Americans are reluctant to use the service.

• 26% of Americans are reluctant to use autopay to pay their bills because they like greater control over transactions affecting their account(s).

• 24% of Americans are reluctant to use autopay to pay their bills because they’re concerned about mistakes.

Read more here, where writer Melissa Lambarena details when and how to use the service to your advantage.

Americans under financial strain

Seventeen percent of Americans are currently having difficulty making all of their debt payments each month according to our nationally-representative survey conducted online by The Harris Poll.

Other results from our survey:

• 17% of Americans cannot reasonably make more than the minimum payments on their debt each month (i.e., if they did they wouldn’t be able to pay for necessities).

• Less than half (42%) of Americans would be able to pay for all of their necessary expenses (e.g., food, housing, utilities) if their household income decreased by 10%.

• 18% of Americans borrowed money in the last 12 months to pay for necessities such as food, housing or utilities. This includes 25% of Gen Z, 26% of Millennials, 17% of Gen X and 7% of Baby Boomers.

Health insurance shoppers’ priorities

As part of our recent Medicare and Retirement Report, we asked how insured Americans prioritize health insurance factors. Most Americans (94%) say they have insurance, whether Medicare or otherwise. When asked which factors are among the most important when choosing a health insurance plan, the top ones were prescription drug coverage (54%), dental, vision and hearing coverage options (49%) and ability to keep seeing current doctors (47%).

Americans financial plans after interest rate cuts

The Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates in the fall in response to moderating inflation. We recently examined Americans' plans to take any financial actions once rates go down:

Our nationally-representative survey conducted online by The Harris Poll found some stark generational differences:

• 89% of Gen Z (ages 18-27) say they planned to take at least one financial action once interest rates go down, compared with 78% of Millennials (ages 28-43), 62% of Gen Xers (ages 44-59) and 31% of Baby Boomers (ages 60-78).

• 30% each of Gen Z and Millennials say they planned to purchase a car compared with 22% of Gen Xers and 12% of Baby Boomers.

• 29% of Gen Z and 27% of Millennials say they plan to refinance a loan as compared with 18% of Gen Xers and just 3% of Baby Boomers.

• 30% of Gen Z and 22% of Millennials say they plan to take out a loan as compared with 13% of Gen Xers and just 3% of Baby Boomers.

• Around two-thirds of Americans (66%) don’t feel comfortable talking with their friends about personal finance situations, such as income, debt and money problems.

• More than 2 in 5 Americans (43%) say they’ve lent money to a friend and 20% of Americans have had to remind a friend to pay them back the money they owed.

• Over a quarter of Americans (27%) say they’ve had to turn down plans with a friend because they couldn’t afford it. Gen Zers and millennials are more likely to say this than Gen Xers and baby boomers — 35% and 34%, vs. 25% and 20%.*

• More than half of Americans (53%) say they generally don’t have arguments about money with their friends. Baby boomers are more likely to say this than younger generations — 64%, vs. 56% of Gen X, 45% of millennials and 43% of Gen Z.

*Generations defined: Gen Z (ages 18-27), millennials (ages 28-43), Gen X (ages 44-59), baby boomers (ages 60-78)

• Close to half of Americans (45%) say they’ve made weight loss-related purchases for themselves, including prescription weight loss medications (11%) and weight loss surgery (5%).

• About two-thirds of Americans who have made weight loss-related purchases for themselves (63%) used cash or debit cards to pay for them, while 38% used a credit card they paid in full by the due date. 

• Some Americans who have made weight loss-related purchases for themselves took on debt — 14% used a credit card they didn’t pay in full by the due date and 12% used a buy now, pay later service.

• Nearly a quarter of Americans who have made weight loss-related purchases for themselves (24%) used insurance to pay for it, while 10% used an FSA/HSA.