Love might not be all that in the air this Valentine’s Day.
A new survey from personal finance resource LendingTree suggest that 39% of Americans will skip out on the romantic holiday to save money.
The survey commissioned from experience management company Qualtrics, surveyed 1,250 Americans across four generations: Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z.
Out of the four groups, it appears that younger generations are more likely to ditch Valentine’s Day for 2021.
More than 4 in 10 members of Gen Z (44%) told LendingTree they are willing to skip Valentine’s Day in favor of money. Millennials weren’t far behind at 43%.
Only a little more than one-third of Baby Boomers (36%) said they would do the same.
Similarly, men were more likely than women to have no celebratory Valentine’s Day plans due to their desire to want to save money.
Forty-four percent of the men surveyed said they plan on skipping the holiday this year and 50% even said they would feel happy if their partner suggested they avoid Valentine’s Day celebrations.
Conversely, 41% of men said they wouldn’t care while 9% admitted they would feel upset at the suggestion.
Thirty-five percent of the women surveyed said they plan on skipping Valentine’s Day for 2021. And interestingly, 59% of women said they wouldn’t care if their partner suggested they skip the holiday in favor of saving money.
Nearly one-fifth of women (18%) admitted they would be upset at the suggestion while 23% said they would be happy about it.
Not so surprisingly, high-earners are said to be the least likely to skip Valentine’s Day so they can save money.
The survey found that 44% of its respondents who made $75,000 or more per year said they don’t plan to skip Valentine’s Day this year over money.
Meanwhile, the National Retail Federation estimates that Valentine’s Day spending will hit new records this year.
A forecast put out by the group projects the holiday to reach $21.8 billion in gift spending with the average customer putting down $164.76 to make their loved ones feel special.
