Millennials budget carefully for recreational spending, dine out in large numbers

Millennials are showing a careful, measured approach to recreational spending, according to a new survey from TD Bank.

The Second Annual TD Bank Love & Money Survey shows that the group born from the early 1980s to the early 2000s are budgeting for things like entertainment, travel, groceries/alcohol, and eating out in large numbers.

In fact, more than half of millennials budgeted for each of the surveyed categories, with groceries/alcohol receiving the most attention at 73% while travel was lowest at 53%. In between, there was eating out (67%) and entertainment (62%), with 68% opting to budget for savings and unexpected expenses (68%).

When it comes to savings, millennials bettered their counterparts with 68% indicating it’s budgeted for monthly compared with 61% of Gen Xers and 52% of boomers.

That said, there is a disconnect between budgeting and following through with only 38% of millennials admitting to sticking with their budgets. Dining out was identified as the first expense to go by 65% of those surveyed.

Research company MARU/VCR&C conducted the survey among 1,902 U.S.-based respondents weighted by age, gender and region to reflect the population. Margin of Error on the total sample is +/-2.9%.