At the checkout counter, the biggest shift may not be how much consumers buy, but where they choose to buy it and which payment tools help them stretch each purchase a little further. In “The New Checkout: Crimped Consumers Lean Into Online Retail and Digital Wallets,” PYMNTS...
The fees charged by condominium associations and homeowners associations are rising along with other items in household budgets, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday (April 9). Between 2019 and 2025, the median monthly cost of condo fees rose 29% to $420, while HOA fees rose...
The new divide in consumer confidence is not whether Americans feel good about the economy, but whether they have enough income to turn that confidence into real spending power. The report, “Income Divides: A Deep Dive on Household Income Differences in U.S. Consumer Expectations,” argues that...
Americans across age groups are feeling the same economic squeeze, but the way they respond is starting to reveal a sharper generational divide. The PYMNTS Intelligence report, “Economic Pressures Split the Generations as Each Rethinks the Basics,” finds that financial strain is now broad enough to touch...
Financial stress is doing more than pushing consumers to hunt for lower prices. It is also changing how they organize purchases, where they shop and which payment tools they trust most when money feels tight. That is the broad takeaway from “The New Checkout: Crimped Consumers...
Household finances are showing resilience on the surface, but the underlying sentiment points to a more constrained consumer. The PYMNTS Consumer Expectations Index measures whether households believe they have the capacity to act on their outlook, combining views on finances, job security and purchasing conditions....
Every payday, millions of American workers face some version of the same problem: The bill is due today, the paycheck arrives Friday and they must somehow cover the distance between those two moments. For Labor Economy workers—the warehouse associates, delivery drivers, caregivers, cooks and retail...
Young consumers in the United States are doing more than ever to stay afloat, but new data shows that effort alone is no longer restoring their sense of control. “Generations Under Pressure: How Younger Consumers Are Coping With Higher Living Costs,” the February installment of...
Popular commentary portrays Generation Z as financially reckless, a cohort supposedly driven by impulse purchases, social media trends and a casual approach to money. The data tells a different story. Evidence from both Federal Reserve research and PYMNTS Intelligence suggests that younger Americans are neither...