Two Out of Three Women Feel Bad About Luxury Purchases

by Annie Scott (RSS feed)
Dec 23rd 2009 at 11:02AM

Market research firm Synovate surveyed 8,100 people in Brazil, Canada, France, Hong Kong, India, Netherlands, Spain, Taiwan, the United Arab Emirates, Britain and the United States about luxury and what it means. Over a third of the respondents defined it as "everything above what is necessary." That's recession mentality if we've ever heard it.

Being frugal is a virtue to some. Perhaps that's why over half of the 72 percent of Britons (66 percent of women!) who say they treat themselves to luxury report feeling bad about it. "It's a classic case of British guilt. It's seen as much more acceptable to buy something 'needed' for the home than it is to indulge yourself in any way," says Jill Telford, Synovate's CEO for the UK. The survey showed a similar majority in the US.

If you don't feel guilty about luxury purchases, you're thinking more along the lines of the Indians, Dutch and Brazilians, of whom the majority feel just fine with spoiling themselves a bit, thank you very much (or perhaps you're a man; men showed far less guilt than women worldwide).

Check out more of Synovate's luxury research here.

[via Reuters]

Tags: guilt, money, study

Filed under: Wealth

Subscribe to these comments

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Victor Dec 24th 2009 1:35AM

If you had made this study with millionaires I bet nobody would feel guilty about luxury purchases.
I'd say we only feel guilty when we know we are living beyond our means, typical behavior of the not so wise middle class.

An example: If you have $250k net worth and buy a Ferrari or pay it with monthly payments I bet you'll feel at least a bit guilty later. But if you have like $10mi you won't care about it and you'll just buy it because you want it.