October 2011 – This Wall Street Journal article features AARC research about how affluent people spend on holiday gifts (http://blogs.wsj.com/runway/2011/10/20/happy-holidays-to-the-rich).
By Christina Binkley
It will come as no surprise to Occupy Wall Street that the wealthiest 10% of U.S. households are responsible for half of all consumer spending here. That’s why researchers spend so much time analyzing their flush little psyches, to see how the prosperous feel about the future of the universe and all that.
One of those people is Ron Kurtz at the American Affluence Research Center. Twice a year, the center polls the mood and spending plans on the highest net-worth households in the U.S. Here are some tidbits they discovered in the latest round:
* Merry Christmas: The rich will spend $23.5 billion—an increase of 2.3% over last year—on holiday gifts.
* Now you know why there is a Neiman Marcus fantasy gifts catalog: They will spend four-times the average family’s outlay on holiday gifts: $2,270 in gifts versus $518 for everyone else.
* It’s not the thought that counts:
For the holidays, rich men and women say their most-wanted present is cash or a gift certificate, thank you very much.
* Party-on while Rome is burning:
Despite all that, the affluent have a record-low outlook for current business conditions and the 12-month outlook for the economy.
I asked Mr. Kurtz to share his thoughts on the underlying reasons for this predicted behavior. He proposed that “the wealthy are perhaps trying to brighten their lives by buying nice things to offset the gloomy environment. This is not an unusual psychological reaction.”
He also noted that the wealthy cut back on their spending in 2008 through 2010, when they feared their own job compensation and net worth was under threat. “Most of these concerns have now dissipated for the truly wealthy,” he said.