What the 1% Want for the Holidays
November 29th, 2011 
admin November, 2011 – This article from The Wealth Report of The Wall Street Journal discusses expectations that the richest 1% of Americans will spend about 2.3% more than they did last year on their holiday shopping. ( http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2011/11/29/what-the-1-want-for-the-holidays/?mod=google_news_blog )
By Robert Frank
The excesses of the 1% are now universally scorned – except when it comes to spending season.
Since the economy is so dependent on consumer spending, and consumer spending is dependent on the wealthy, the spending of the wealthy will be critical for a strong fourth quarter and possible recovery.
Early reports are mixed, depending on wealth and income levels. According to Harrison Group and American Express Publishing, consumers who make between $100,000 and $250,000 are expected to spend 17% less than they did in 2010.
Those with discretionary income of $250,000 or more, however, plan to spend 7% more than they did last year, the study found.
The American Affluence Research Center expects the richest 1% to spend about 2.3% more than they did last year. That increase comes despite (or perhaps because of) the unusually pessimistic outlook of the 1%.
“The wealthy can afford to brighten their lives by buying nice things to offset the gloomy environment,” Kurtz told CNBC.
What kind of bling are they buying to brighten things up?
According to Kurtz, the most popular gift that all income groups want to receive is money, either in the form of gift card, check or gift certificate. Ranking second was clothing. Among those worth $800,000 to $1.49 million, the third most popular gift is an iPad or similar tablet computer. For the $6 million or more crowd (the real one-percenters), the second most popular gift is books or CDs.
Fine jewelry was more popular with the affluent than the one-percenters (only 2% of the one-percenters want jewelry this season, compared with 8% for the affluent). Yet the one-percenters are twice as likely to buy sport equipment.
If that sounds overly modest, perhaps that’s because the survey didn’t include “G650″ “Feadship” or “Mulsanne” as gift options.
What do you think the 1% want this Christmas?