illustration of a couple seated at a restaurant table

Illustration: Tomi Um

Are You a Big Spender? Take This Money Habits Quiz

Compare your spending with the average American’s

George Mannes

En español

Published August 06, 2020

6 Questions

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Are You a Big Spender? Take This Money Habits Quiz

[ {
  "question" : "How generous are Americans? Their tax returns have answers. Those with income between $50,000 and $100,000 in 2017, and who itemized charitable gifts, contributed roughly how much cash to nonprofits?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "a. $840 ",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "b. $3,140 ",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "c. $5,140 ",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "d. $7,140",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "B. Interestingly, people wealthier than that gave a smaller percentage of their income. Households making $100,000 to $200,000 donated an average of $3,910; those in the $200,000 to $500,000 range gave $6,520.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "When shopping for groceries, households headed by people 65 and older spend an average of $14 a month on pork. Do they spend more or less than that amount on chicken?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "a. More",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "b. Less",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "B. They spend about $12 a month on chicken and other poultry, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). But it’s a generational thing; households headed by those ages 25 through 34 spend an average of $16 a month on poultry and only $13 on pork.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "You’re ready to buy a used SUV. You don’t want to pay more than last year’s average price. What do you think that was?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "a. $17,480",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "b. $22,350",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "c. $27,250 ",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "d. $33,050",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "B. Buying a brand-new SUV, on the other hand, would cost you an average of about $38,000, reports vehicle-information resource Edmunds. A three-year-old used car would run you only $19,000.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "Think back a year or two: When the check arrived at a sit-down restaurant and the service had been good, about how much did you tip?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "a. 12 percent ",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "b. 15 percent",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "c. 18 percent ",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "d. 20 percent",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "C. Here's another finding from the restaurant-rating publisher Zagat: Older people are far more likely than millennials to tip their waiter or taxi driver but far less likely to leave cash in a barista's tip jar.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "It’s no shock that women pay more for haircuts, on average, than men do. What may be surprising (to men, at least) is how much more. While a man's cut was $27 in 2019, how much was a woman's?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "a. $35 ",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "b. $46",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "c. $59 ",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "d. $72",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "B. But, notes the payments company Square, costs varied widely by location: In Wyoming, women paid an average of $29; in Washington, D.C., $75.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "Back to the grocery store. On average, households headed by people ages 55 through 64 spend $42 a month on nonalcoholic beverages. How much do they spend on the alcoholic type?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "a. $19 ",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "b. $36",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "c. $50 ",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "d. $82",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "C. The BLS says adults older than that dial back to about $38 a month on wine, beer and the hard stuff. The top spenders are people ages 35 through 44, who pay $55 monthly.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
} ]

Quiz Progress

0 Correct

0 Incorrect