According to a recent study by NerdWallet, the average American household with debt now carries $15,355 in credit card debt and $129,579 in total debt. When all of America’s credit card, student loan, auto loan and mortgage debt is added up, it now amounts to a staggering $11.91 trillion.
If you are one of the many of Americans struggling with debt, there are plenty of ways to reduce and eliminate that debt in a responsible way. However, if debt has constantly been a problem throughout your entire life, the debt itself may not be the root of your problem and your debt issues may instead be a symptom of a larger problem: impulse spending.
The Behavior Behind the Debt
A new study by CreditCards.com found that 5 out of every 6 Americans make impulse buys. More than half of those surveyed say they have spent at least $100 on an impulse buy and one in five respondents admit to spending $1,000 or more on an impulse purchase. Perhaps most concerning is the growing trend in impulse buying. CreditCards.com found that impulse buying is up 9% since they conducted the same survey just a year ago.
E-commerce represented 45% of 2015 holiday spending, but nearly 80% of impulse buys are reportedly still made in-store. The remaining 20% take place on a computer, tablet or smartphone.
“When something is tangible and is right in front of you, it sparks the impulse to buy more than a picture on your phone,” financial planner Karen Lee explains.
Why Do We Impulse Buy?
If you often find yourself buying an item that you hadn’t planned to buy because of a sudden urge to get the item or if you repeatedly find yourself asking, “What the heck was I thinking when I bought that?” it may be…
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