What do people spend money on

Personal Finance. Your Practice. Popular Courses. Economics Behavioral Economics. Table of Contents Expand. Apparel Products and Services. Fees and Admissions. Vacation Lodging. Hobbies, Toys, Pets. Food, Not Consumed at Home. Non-Discretionary Consumption. The Bottom Line. Key Takeaways Consumer spending is refers to all consumption final goods and services for current personal and household use, and includes both necessities and discretionary purchases. Here, we take a look at how government statistics say Americans spend their money.

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This compensation may impact how and where listings appear. Investopedia does not include all offers available in the marketplace. Related Articles. Budgeting Which consumer goods do Americans buy the most of? Budgeting Budgeting Calculator. Partner Links. Related Terms Understanding the term "Buy" Buy is a term used to describe the purchase of an item or service that's typically paid for via an exchange of money or another asset.

Then it breaks down spending into general categories, and finally into more specific categories. The average dollar amount spent is included with each section of the breakdown. Changes to consumer spending will have far-reaching ramifications for the rest of the economy. Since there are warning signs that consumer spending is already starting to cool , some economists are concerned about problems down the road.

For example, changes in consumer behavior are threatening traditional retail companies and have already led to nearly , lost jobs since the start of Please let us know in the comments. Thanks for your interest in purchasing a high-quality poster of this visualization. These will be for sale soon. We will email you when we're ready, just drop your address in the box. If you'd like to use our visualization in books, magazines, reports, educational materials, etc.

Send requests to: permissions howmuch. People are also tipping more, which adds to the cost. Despite the increases in some categories, many Americans say they're spending less and saving more right now. However, most people's budget changes don't add up to significant long-term savings, McLay says. Instead, for most of her clients, the budget line items just shifted around. Even among those who did manage to reduce their spending, McLay is not confident they'll be able to maintain those lower budgets long-term.

That's because for a lot of people, the budget changes weren't a conscious choice, they were a forced reality, McLay says. As soon as they're back at work, commuting and gas expenses will be back to pre-pandemic levels, for example. Travel spending is going to be high next year, McLay predicts.

People may take their savings and investment earnings and spend big on travel, she says. The one area where McLay says that people may continue to keep their spending reduced is on gym memberships. Even now that most gyms are open, McLay says she's seen a significant shift in clients thinking twice about starting up their gym membership again, especially because many shifted to virtual or live streaming classes and workouts at home.

If you want to make real, long-term changes to your spending, set savings goals for specific outcomes, McLay suggests. If you want to travel next year, for example, start setting money aside specifically for that.