One in Three Canadians (36%) Overspent During the Holidays
Toronto, Ontario, January 30, 2020 — The latest Ipsos study for RBC reveals that many Canadians spent more than they meant to during the holiday season. More than one in three (36%) admit to overspending, down 4 points compared to the holiday season a year earlier. Yet while fewer Canadians admit to overspending, those who do are spending significantly more than before: on average, overspenders went above their budget by some $459 over the holidays, up from $384 the previous year. Men were more likely to overspend, exceeding their budget by some $544 on average, compared to $372 for women.
Finding Ways to Cut Back
With credit card bills now due, Canadians who exceeded their holiday spending budget are looking for ways to pay off their over-expenditures. Some (32%) have already managed to pay off their holiday season overspend. For everyone else, the most popular way of doing so is finding ways to cut back on other types of spending: one in four (25%) say they are spending less on day-to-day living expenses like groceries, phone or cable bills and putting these savings toward their extra costs. A similar number (24%) are cutting back on entertainment, lunch and coffee. Others plan on carrying the extra costs forward, either:
- On their credit card, with the intention of paying off the balance within the next 2 months or more: 17%
- On their credit card, with plans to pay off the balance right away: 15%
- On their line of credit: 6%
This leaves 7% of Canadians who don’t yet know how they will pay for their holiday season over-expenditures.
Holiday Regrets
Among the regrets Canadians have from the holiday season are not spending enough time with family and friends (14%), not making a budget and sticking to it (10%), and buying too many gifts (7%). Asked what they would do differently to be ready for holiday gift-giving or spending next year, those who overspent are most likely to say they would:
- Set aside savings on a regular basis: 37%
- Spend less/resists any temptations to spend more than they’ve saved: 30%
- Create a holiday spending budget: 28%
- Spend more time finding sales: 27%
Saving money might be the most intuitive way to get ready for spending wisely over the holidays, but many Canadians say they simply aren’t in a position to save, or don’t know how much they could put aside. Asked how much “extra” they think they could save each month, on top of what they regularly save already, one in four (26%) say they aren’t saving regularly now, and therefore aren’t expecting to save anything extra. Four in ten (44%) have no idea how much extra they could save. The remaining 30% of Canadians think they could save $64 per month.
About the Study
These are some of the findings of an Ipsos poll conducted between January 2 and January 3, 2020, on behalf of RBC. For this survey, a sample of 2,000 Canadians aged 18+ was interviewed online via the Ipsos I-Say panel. Quota sampling and weighting were employed to balance demographics to ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the adult population according to Census data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the overall poll is accurate to within ±2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Canadian adults been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.
For more information on this Factum, please contact:
Sean Simpson
Vice President, Ipsos Public Affairs
+1 416 324 2002
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