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Survey: The Deal-Hunting Mindset Advisors Can’t Ignore
Plus, the latest in market news.
Happy Sunday, and welcome to Benzinga’s financial advisor newsletter.
Today we're talking about budgets and why even wealthy Americans are switching to a deal-hunting mindset. Uncover the surprising shopping habits that are reshaping spending patterns and learn what this shift could mean for your financial planning strategy.
Plus, a look at all the top stories and market activity from this past week.
Advisor Spotlight: If you would like your company to be featured in our upcoming Advisor Spotlight, click here to send us an email.
INDUSTRY CHATTER
Inflation may not dominate the headlines anymore, but it hasn’t fully disappeared either. Data released Friday showed that Core PCE — the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge — ticked up to 3.1%, slightly higher than expected again.
Consumers seem to understand this intuitively. Even if inflation is no longer surging, the impact of higher prices continues to change how people shop.
A new survey from Omnisend shows just how widespread that shift has become. Roughly 66% of Americans say they’ve switched to cheaper alternatives in the past year. More than half report choosing lower-priced or store brands instead of brand-names, and 27% say they’ve purchased secondhand or refurbished items.
While none of that should come as a shock during periods of high inflation, however, what’s more notable is the demographic that is leading the charge.
Among consumers earning more than $100,000 per year, 63% say they’ve switched to cheaper products. In many cases, higher-income households are actually more active in hunting for deals than the general population. In addition, roughly 35% of those track prices over time before buying, and 44% say they stock up on essentials when items go on sale.
In other words, paying full price is increasingly becoming the exception — not the standard — even for households that could comfortably afford it.
For financial advisors, this shift says something broader about client psychology.
Price sensitivity used to be associated mostly with financial stress. Today, it’s increasingly seen as a form of financial savvy. Even affluent households often take pride in finding better value — not because they have to, but because it feels smart.
That mindset tends to show up in financial planning conversations as well. Clients who comparison-shop everyday purchases often bring the same thinking to investment fees, insurance costs, and tax strategies.
Understanding that shift can make those conversations easier. Clients aren’t necessarily looking to spend less — they’re looking to feel confident they’re getting value.
Two weeks into the Iran war, hopes for a quick resolution to the Hormuz oil shipping crisis are fading fast.
The critical chokepoint — through which 20% of the world’s daily oil supply normally flows — remains closed, with Iranian forces threatening to strike any unauthorized vessel attempting to pass.
In terms of total production loss, this is the worst oil crisis in modern history, surpassing the 1970s Arab embargo and the Gulf War disruptions of the early 1990s.
The approximately 20 million barrels per day affected has prompted an unprecedented coordinated response: the IEA announced the release of 400 million barrels from member-country reserves, while the Trump administration ordered an additional drawdown of 172 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve — bringing the SPR to its lowest level since the 1980s.
Despite these extraordinary measures, oil prices climbed for a second consecutive week. WTI crude approached $95 per barrel by Friday morning after Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, declared the strait must remain closed.
If oil stays above $90–100 per barrel, economists warn the U.S. could slip into stagflation: rising inflation and slowing growth. It’s also a worst-case scenario for central banks. Inflation would normally call for higher interest rates, but a weakening economy demands the opposite.
On Wall Street, the energy shock has not triggered a broad-based collapse. Major indices have declined, but the selloff has remained relatively contained given the scale of the disruption.
As Crisis Reshapes Markets, Beneficiaries And Laggards Emerge
Oil refiners —such as Marathon Petroleum (MPC), Valero Energy (VLO) and HF Sinclair (DINO) — have been among the best performers since the war began.
In a similar fashion, fertilizer and chemical producers — such as CF Industries (CF), The Mosaic Company (MOS) and Dow (DOW) — witnessed a sharp rally. The Hormuz Strait is also a critical corridor for global urea and phosphate shipments.
On the losing side, sectors exposed to rising fuel costs have taken significant hits: shipping, transportation, airlines, and cruise lines have all seen sharp declines.
Michigan automakers have also suffered as higher energy costs threaten production expenses and consumer demand.
Ford (F) shares, for example, are down 15%. And General Motors (GM) is off 8% since the start of the conflict.
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THE WEEK AHEAD
Economic Data
Monday: Empire State manufacturing, Industrial production, Capacity utilization
Tuesday: Pending home sales, Home builder confidence index
Wednesday: Factory orders, Producer price index (PPI), FOMC
Thursday: Initial jobless claims, Wholesale inventories, New home sales
Friday: No major reports
Earnings
Click here for the full calendar of economic data and earnings reports.
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