Majority would prefer money as Christmas gift to help financially

Dec. 21, 2010 - PRLog -- Research of more than 1,500 Britons by the UK’s leading discount website has found that over half of respondents would prefer to receive cash as a Christmas gift from family or friends, as opposed to other presents.

www.MyVoucherCodes.co.uk polled 1,508 people around the UK to find out more about their Christmas gift preferences over the festive season, as well as their financial situations. 47% of those polled admitted that they ‘struggled’ financially over the Christmas period; and a third, 32%, said they would end up in debt due to the costs of the festive season.

When asked ‘Would you prefer to receive an actual gift or money as a Christmas present this year?’ 59% of the respondents opted for money. When asked to explain their choice, more than half of those who would prefer the money, 51%, said it was for the ‘financial help;’ whilst only 13% claimed it was so they could buy what they wanted.

4% claimed to feel ‘disappointed’ if a Christmas card from a close family member didn’t have money inside, but only 17% sent money to relatives or friends in that way.
Just under 1 in 10, 9%, of the people asked admitted that they had attempted to return a gift they were given in the past. When asked why this was the case, the majority, 48%, claimed it was to try and get the money back for the product; whereas only 22% said it was down to the fact they didn’t life the gift.

Two fifths, 42%, of the respondents said that they always overspent at Christmas time, and almost a quarter, 22%, claimed to have started their shopping early to spread the cost of gift buying.

Farhad Farhadi, personal finance expert at http://www.MyVoucherCodes.co.uk, commented on the findings;

“As all of the respondents we spoke to were aged 21 and over, it was surprising to see that so many would prefer money in a Christmas card. That’s normally something you’d associate with teenagers, but on finding that many would prefer the money for financial reasons, it all starts to make sense.

“Once the VAT rate rises in January, things are going to become a little harder financially for everybody, so it’s easy to see why many want help in any way they can get it. Some people believe that giving money instead of a present is a lazy choice, when in fact many actually prefer the cash. If people are going to splash out anyway, perhaps giving the money instead isn’t such a bad idea after all.”
LINK http://www.MyVoucherCodes.co.uk

ENDS

Mark Pearson, chairman of MyVoucherCodes is a regular media contributor regarding online shopping and the credit crunch. At 30, his personal worth is more than £30 million. Mark was previously a trainee chef working for Gordon Ramsay at Claridges, London.
Mark appeared as a ‘Secret Millionaire’ in the series on Channel 4, in which he donated £115,00 of his own money to worthy causes.

MyVoucherCodes has had sales exceeding £481m in the last year
Consumer savings on online shopping via MyVoucherCodes.co.uk up from £28m in 2008 to £52m in 2009.

http://www.MyVoucherCodes.co.uk is the UK’s most popular discount site.