It’s time to worry more and spend less. This year, as they struggle with high inflation and rising interest rates, that is how many Canadians are feeling as they approach the winter holidays.
According to a recent Ipsos poll conducted exclusively for Global News and released on Monday, 30% of Canadians plan to limit their holiday gift-buying and spend less than in prior years. However, 52 per cent of people said they anticipated spending about the same as before.
According to Darrell Bricker, CEO of Ipsos public affairs, inflationary pressures that have made it tough for Canadians to purchase food, real estate, and pay for gas are now now hurting how individuals celebrate the holidays with their loved ones this year.
He told Global News, “It’s got to be quite alarming for all of us that being concerned about celebrating the holidays with your family because of economic issues tells you how deep these concerns have percolated into Canadians’ everyday lives.
Nearly half of respondents (45%) are concerned about being able to afford holiday gifts for loved ones this year as inflation stays well above the Bank of Canada’s comfort zone of 2%.
Women (49%) and Canadians under the age of 34 (66%) are more worried about this than are parents and younger Canadians (18–34). (58 per cent).
Canada’s headline inflation rate has eased to 6. 9 per cent from a peak of 8. 1 per cent in June, but food costs are still accelerating, and underlying price pressures remain sticky.
In an effort to bring inflation back to its objective of 2%, the Bank of Canada has increased interest rates by 350 basis points in only seven months, one of its most aggressive tightening efforts ever.
According to a recent Ipsos poll, 30% of those who are worried about a potential recession stated they are preparing for it and will thus spend less on gifts this holiday season.
A majority (57%) claimed they are being more frugal with their spending than in previous years. More than half (52%) said they would rather spend more on essential necessities and don’t have money to spare for gift shopping. Three in ten (31%) also cited lower earnings as a cause.
“There are many elements that are being incorporated into people’s calculations about how they’re going to celebrate this holiday season in terms of gift giving,” said Bricker. “In the last couple of years, they haven’t really been as present.”
“What we’re observing is that people are sticking to their budgets more closely than they did previously.
In terms of households, most people who made between $40,000 and $60,000 per year or less said they were worried about not having enough money to buy presents.
Sandy Yong, author of The Money Master, told Global News in a previous interview that while the holidays can be a source of financial anxiety, there are ways to mitigate the pressure by picking up extra hours of seasonal work, planning ahead and setting a firm budget for gifts.
She also suggested comparison shopping or holding off until an item is on sale in order to get a little more for your money.
I hope you’ll be able to take advantage of a few decent sales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
These are some of the results of an Ipsos survey conducted for Global News between October 18 and October 20, 2022. A sample of 1,001 Canadians aged 18 and older were surveyed for this study.
Quotas and weighting were used to make sure the sample’s makeup matched the characteristics of the Canadian population as determined by the census. Utilizing a credibility interval, Ipsos online polling precision is evaluated. In this case, the poll is accurate to within ± 3. 5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Canadians aged 18+ been polled. Subsets of the population will have greater credibility intervals.
All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error. — using materials from The Canadian Press and Craig Lord of Global News.
According to a poll, Canadians intend to reduce their holiday gift purchasing as inflation soars.
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