Inflation is a significant worry for not just adults, but also teens this holiday season, as shown by a recent survey.

According to Junior Achievement’s yearly JA Teens & Holiday Spending survey, over 70% of teens reported anxiety about how inflation will affect their shopping this year. This number is similar to last year’s findings, which had 71% of teens expressing similar concerns.

“While consumer prices have stabilized somewhat over the last couple of years, there’s still a lot of anxiety about costs, especially among teens who have witnessed dramatic price increases,” stated Ed Grocholski, chief marketing officer for Junior Achievement USA, in an interview with YSL News.

Increasing Costs Impact Teen Budgets

Samhith Padala, an 18-year-old college freshman at the University of California, Berkeley, is among those noticing the effects of inflation on both day-to-day expenses and holiday purchases.

“Inflation has made it tough for people to buy things they used to purchase easily,” said Padala, a native of Phoenix, in his comments to YSL News. “I’m talking about items like candy, stuffed toys, even wrapping paper and tape. These are things that may not always come to mind,” he added.

He noted that many of these items, which used to be priced at $1 in dollar stores, now cost 25 cents more.

This situation has been forcing Padala and his friends to make difficult financial decisions. He shared that one of his college friends, who works at a hotel, recently faced the dilemma of choosing between buying his mother a birthday gift or filling his car tank with gas.

Despite these challenges, Padala, who founded a media production business at 12 and still runs it, intends to continue buying gifts for friends and family, but he anticipates spending more due to inflation.

Teens Prefer In-Store Shopping This Year

The survey, which included over 1,000 teens, found that about 74% plan to receive their holiday spending money from their parents or guardians. Additionally, 35% said they would be using their own earnings from traditional or gig jobs for holiday purchases.

Moreover, 75% of teens indicated that they will do their shopping “in-store” this year, a slight decrease from 76% in 2023, while 69% plan to shop online, compared to 67% the previous year.

Grocholski noted that the Junior Achievement survey has indicated this trend of teens favoring in-person shopping over the past five to six years.

“With technology being so accessible constantly, shopping online has lost some of its novelty and uniqueness,” Grocholski explained. “Many teens are eager to visit stores and explore available options.”

Inflation Affects All Shoppers

Nonetheless, the National Retail Federation predicts an increase in holiday spending compared to last year, projecting an uptick of 2.5% to 3.5% over 2023. Total holiday spending in November and December is expected to reach between $979.5 billion and $989 billion, up from $955.6 billion during the same period last year, according to their annual forecast presented at an October sales outlook call.