With all the bad news in 2020, it’s no secret many people let themselves go. And with the “quarantine 15” stretching our waistlines, the cursed year also stretched us financially, says a new survey.
The non-scientific poll of 2,000 Americans commissioned by Credit Sesame shows that 64% regret not handling their money better last year, and that the average respondent picked up five bad financial habits during the pandemic.
At 51%, impulse purchases ranked as the most popular bad habit, while 44% say they wasted money on subscriptions they no longer use. Thirty-five percent said they made the blunder of only paying the minimum payment on their credit cards, and 30% say they didn’t stick to a fixed budget in the quarantine times.
The survey shows Millennials picked up seven bad habits; members of Generation Z and Gen X picked up five. On the other hand, for all the “okay, boomer” slights, that generation kept their eyes on their wallets, only picking up one bad financial habit last year.
A third of the respondents say they let their credit scores go during 2020, and 58% regretted doing so. The average respondent last checked their score in August, the poll revealed, with 56% saying they’re committed to improving it in 2021.
Considering all this, it’s no surprise that boosting savings and paying down debt were the respondents’ top goals for the new year.