Adolescent purchasing controlled by recession

The most youthful group of consumers is now noticing the crunch of the downturn. The 2011 Teens & Money Survey had just been published by Charles Schwab & Co. The study states that teen spending is down quite a bit.

Once large spenders feel the crunch

Traditionally, adolescents ignore economic trends and spend impulsively no matter the crunch on the purse strings at home. However, teenager spending is down 14 percent this spring. The impact is significant. As a group, adolescents spend an average of $125 billion in the U.S. each year.

Increase in adolescent spending on home entertainment

Adolescent spending has dropped in almost all the markets which they traditionally impact probably the most: apparel, beauty products and entertainment activities like restaurants, concerts and movies. The only place teens seemed unwilling to cut corners is in home entertainment. Video games, music and DVDs are now 8 percent of adolescent purchasing. They were 7 percent previously.

Paying attention to what is going on

About 90 percent of surveyed teenagers said the recession affected them in some way, as shown in the Schwab study. Schwab concludes that they have a heightened knowledge of financial issues than they did four years ago. Most said they were more appreciative of the things they have and are less likely to spend impulsively.

The ‘Recession Generation’ was the name used

Senior vice president of Schwab Community Services is Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz. She said, “It seems clear that the great recession has changed the mindset of teens. It has given these ‘Recession Generation’ youth(s) a deeper appreciation for what they have and how hard their parents work. This may be the silver lining to the economic downturn.”

Changing in the home first

”To help quench their thirst for material goods, teens appear to have opened up to the idea that learning about money management is a potential solution to the problem,” according to Kids Money Management founder Bryan Sommer. “To help quench their thirst for material goods, teens appear to have opened up to the idea that learning about money management is a potential solution to the problem,” Bryan Sommer said. Sommer is the kids Money Management Founder.

Most teens said that they learned about finances and money from their parents. Eighty-two percent of surveyed teens say their parents have taught them the fundamentals of financial management. With finances, 77 percent said their parents were even role models. That’s also great news.

All because of joblessness in homes

Unemployment accounts for some of this trend in teen spending. About 22 percent is the teen joblessness rate. That’s the lowest it has been in 10 years.

Information from

Newser

newser.com/story/57269/recession-wary-teens-cut-back-on-spending.html

Commoncensus

commoncensus.blogs.nuwireinvestor.com/2008/04/recession-forces-teens-to-curb-spending.html

Daily Finance

dailyfinance.com/2011/05/31/recession-sobers-americas-once-free-spending-teens/