PanamaTimes

Saturday, Oct 24, 2026

How wealthy Americans are spending their money this holiday season

How wealthy Americans are spending their money this holiday season

Amid supply chain issues and inflation, the 2021 holiday spending of millionaires isn't shifting much compared to last year.

Despite supply chain disruptions and inflationary issues, retail trade groups and industry watchers are forecasting record levels of sales this holiday season.

But a majority of the millionaires (68%) surveyed in the CNBC Millionaire Survey said they will spend the same this holiday season as last year. Furthermore, the largest percentage of millionaires said they will spend less than $2,500 this holiday season, significantly lower than in 2019.

Here are some of the ways millionaires say they will be spending their money this holiday season.

Smaller sums


When it comes to how much millionaires expect to spend this holiday season, the largest percentage (29%) said they would spend between $1,000 and $2,499, slightly up from 28% last year but down from 34% in 2019.

Smaller sums — between $0-$499 and $500-$999 — saw slight decreases from 2020 but were still higher than what was recorded in 2019. For example, 26% of millionaires said they'd spend between $0-$499 this year, compared to 27% last year and 19% in 2019.

The percentage of people who said they were planning on spending over $25,000 increased one percentage point compared to last year to 4%, which is up from 2% in 2019.

Across the board, 68% of millionaires said they would be spending the same as last year, while 12% said they were spending less and 21% said they were spending more.

Of the millionaires that said they were going to be spending much more this year, at least 10% or more, 39% of those respondents were millennials.

Supply chain issues, inflation and spending


Inflation and supply chain issues have snarled holiday shopping, and millionaires say they are also feeling that crunch.

More than a quarter (28%) of millionaires said they would be giving more gift cards this year and less tangible gifts because of possible shortages and disruptions in the supply chain, while 33% said they were doing their holiday shopping sooner because of that.

Seven percent of millionaires said they will be giving less gifts this year due to inflation.

Twenty percent said they would be increasing their charitable contributions this year, while 7% said they would be increasing their spending and giving this year after having problems last year due to the pandemic.

Who the wealthy are spending on


Perhaps unsurprisingly, the age of the millionaire drastically impacts who they plan to spend the most on this holiday season.

For millennial millionaires, 32% said they'd spend the most on their children, 26% said they'd spend the most on their spouse, and 19% said they'd spend the most on themselves.

In comparison, 27% of baby boomer millionaires said they'd spend the most on their grandchildren, 24% on their children, 24% on their spouse and 3% on themselves.

Newsletter

Related Articles

PanamaTimes
0:00
0:00
Close
Advertising trick: Pepsi’s Harrier Jet Commercial Led to a $700,000 Court Fight
Why 2027 Could Be a Strong Year for Stocks—and Why the Forecast Is Fragile
Trump’s Top General Seeks an Exit Strategy From Iran War, Report Says
Brock Lesnar Retires From Wrestling, Closing a Career of Rare Athletic Range and Lasting Controversy
Trump-Era Policy Shifts Test the Boundaries of U.S. Institutions
Weight-Loss Drug Boom Tests the Limits of Prescription Advertising Rules
Breaking With the Past: One of the World’s Smallest Countries Changes Its Name
AI Is Remaking the US Economy, From GDP Growth to iPhone Prices
Cuba’s Grid Fails Again as Fuel Crisis Deepens
Nazca Lines Flight Crash Kills Thirteen as Peru Suspends Aerodiana
OpenAI Faces Demands for Full Disclosure After Models Breach Hugging Face
FIFA’s Private-Investment Plan for World Cup Rights Draws European Revolt
Why Americans Queue for $15 Ice Cream and a $100 Caviar Pint
OpenAI Sued After ChatGPT Allegedly Discouraged Emergency Care Before Near-Fatal Embolism
Miliband Sets Climate and International Law at Centre of UK Diplomacy
Trump Readies New Tariffs as Temporary Global Levy Nears Expiry
Morgan Stanley Builds a Wall Street Lead in AI Infrastructure Finance
High Prices Push Coffee Drinkers Toward Whole Beans and Home Brewing
Spain Defeats Argentina in Extra Time to Win Second World Cup
Venezuela’s Earthquake Devastation Turns U.S. Investment Opportunity Into a Thirty-Seven Billion Dollar Reconstruction Challenge
Ukrainian Drones Strike Wildberries Warehouses Deep Inside Russia
The Ledger Will Not Trust on Faith
Trump Administration Pressures Banks to Restrict Financial Access for Undocumented Immigrants
The Ten World Cup Finals That Defined Football History
Smartphones Are Getting More Expensive, Sales Are Collapsing, and Even Apple Admits: "Prices Will Rise"
The AI Race Enters Its Infrastructure Era
Colombia Influencer Dies After Cosmetic Procedure at Unlicensed Bogota Salon
A Quiet Bastille Day: France Grapples with World Cup Heartbreak and Leftover Fireworks
Spain in Ecstasy: "We Feel Unbeatable, We Taught the Whole World a Lesson"
On the Island That Did Not Yield to Trump, There Is No Electricity, and 10 Million Live in Darkness
World Cup Visitors Turn American Big-Box Stores Into Souvenir Stops
Anthropic Reengineers Agentic Architecture to Shift Autonomous Workplace Automation to the Cloud
Global Crisis Alert: Escalating Middle East Tensions and UK Political Upheaval
Japanese Technology Firm Fujitsu Launches Advanced Artificial Intelligence Tool for Corporate Disclosures
South Africa Officially Launches Nationwide Campaign for Highly Contested Local Government Elections
United Kingdom Commits Additional Funding for Unexploded Ordnance Clearance in Laos
Singapore Announces Stringent New Greenhouse Gas Regulations for Commercial Cooling Systems
Cambodia and Thailand Hold High-Level Border Security Talks at United Nations Headquarters
Myanmar Military Government and China Sign Major Agreement to Upgrade Media and Cultural Cooperation
Knife Attack at Swiss Train Station Leaves Three Injured in Suspected Act of Domestic Terrorism
Transnational Extortion Gang Threatens Canadian Police With Army of One Thousand Armed Operatives
Australia Imposes Forty-Two-Day Quarantine on Cruise Ship Passengers Following Deadly Hantavirus Outbreak
International Monetary Fund Unlocks Seven Hundred Million United States Dollars for Sri Lanka Following Economic Reforms
Australia Launches Record One Point Four Billion Dollar Lawsuit Against Chemical Giant 3M Over Contamination
China and Canada Foreign Ministers Meet in Ottawa in Effort to Stabilize Strained Diplomatic Ties
Indonesia Demands Urgent United Nations Security Council Reform Amid Escalating Global Conflicts
Extreme Weather Patterns Trigger Severe Drought in Madagascar and Destructive Flooding in East Africa
Indian State of Karnataka Faces Political Upheaval as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah Abruptly Resigns
Philippines and Japan Reaffirm Defense Ties as Crucial for Indo-Pacific Regional Stability
Norway Joins French Nuclear Deterrence Initiative in Major Shift for European Security Architecture
×