Key takeaways <\/strong><\/p>\n The pet effect<\/strong><\/p>\n The majority of pet owners (94%) consider their four-legged friends part of the family, and more than half (57%) include their pets’ needs in long-term financial planning. Nearly 2 in 5 (39%) report becoming more financially responsible due to owning a pet. Close to a third (31%) saved up for pet expenses before getting one.<\/p>\n About 7 in 10 pet owners want to spoil their animal companions (71%), while almost a third buy things for their pets when they feel guilty about not spending enough time with them (32%). Income may also play a role in pet spending: 42% say the more money they make, the more they splurge on their pets.<\/p>\n What would you do if your pet suddenly needed a trip to the vet? Over three-quarters of Americans (77%) would tap into their savings or emergency fund to pay for an unexpected medical expense. Enrolling in pet insurance is one way to be prepared.<\/p>\n Sit. Stay. Spend.<\/strong><\/p>\n Americans spent an average of $1,355 on their pets in the past year, and nearly 1 in 5 (19%) plan to spend more in 2024. On average, they spend $1,200 on food and $828 on vet bills each year. As for birthday and holiday pet gifts, Americans say they spend an average of $24 on those occasions.<\/p>\n Dog owners spend an average of 14% more on their pets than cat owners. But what about spending on pets versus people?<\/p>\n One in 3 (33%) pet owners say they buy more things for their pets than themselves, and over 2 in 5 (42%) spent more on their pets than on their closest friends. Some (16%) spent more on their pets than their significant other.<\/p>\n Paws and paychecks<\/strong><\/p>\n More than a third of Americans (35%) say their pets motivate them to work harder and seek higher pay. For some, time is money: 34% of Millennials would decline a higher-paying job if it meant more time away from their pets (30% overall). Another 31% of Gen Zers (28% overall) would consider a pay cut in exchange for a job that offers flexible hours so they can spend more time with their pets.<\/p>\n People’s love for their pets often extends into their workplace preferences, with 41% of pet owners being more likely to return to the office if allowed to bring their pets.<\/p>\n Access the full report on The Currency™<\/a>.<\/p>\n Methodology:<\/strong> This study is based on online responses from 1,000 pet owners in American commissioned by Empower from April 11-12, 2024.<\/p>\n RO3696051-0724<\/p>\n (BPT) – Can your dog help you save? New Empower research shows that Americans associate pet ownership with positive money habits, with 39% of people saying it inspires them to be more financially responsible, and 36% saying it motivates them to reach t…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[718],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pets"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/homeimprovementblogs.com\/hg-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/homeimprovementblogs.com\/hg-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/homeimprovementblogs.com\/hg-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homeimprovementblogs.com\/hg-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/114"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homeimprovementblogs.com\/hg-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/homeimprovementblogs.com\/hg-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41644\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/homeimprovementblogs.com\/hg-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homeimprovementblogs.com\/hg-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/homeimprovementblogs.com\/hg-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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