Tiffany Raiford is a lifelong Floridian, wife to my high school sweetheart and mother of four littles (two girls and boy/girl twins...no, they are not identical and yes, I'm sure). My kids love to whine, so I love to wine. My loves include nap time, bed time, date night, travel and evenings and weekends when my husband is home because he handles all diaper changes.
When you think of wealthy shoppers, you think of Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue. You don’t think of Target or Costco, however, that’s exactly where the wealthy prefer to shop. A new survey studying the shopping habits of the nation’s wealthiest 10 percent found that they prefer to shop and save, usually at stores such as Target, Costco and The Home Depot. In fact, the study goes on to show that most of the affluent, wealthy people in the country prefer to shop reasonably and spend within their limits while only 1 percent of the wealthy like to purchase only luxury items.
The survey studied the spending habits of 330 people with an annual income of anywhere between $828,000 and $3.1 million. Of the people surveyed, a staggering 36 percent state they will continue to spend less money in the coming 12 months as they’d like to budget more and save more. Of the people surveyed for the report done twice yearly by the American Affluence Research Center, only 25 percent plan on buying or leasing a new vehicle or remodeling their homes and 17 percent are planning on taking a discount vacation, such as a cruise.
Essentially, this study finds that the country’s richest residents have very similar feelings as those who haven’t as much money; they want to save more, spend less and live frugally. The idea of being comfortable in their lifestyle is important, and shopping at major retailers such as Costco and Target make it easy. For some, it’s not just about the designer label: It’s about living comfortably within their means and never having to worry about their finances. It is important to note, however, that these are the Americans who have major stock holdings in most of the world’s biggest companies, as well as major real estate investments.
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