Overview

• Researchers from the Ifo-Institut and Technische Universität München examined anonymized accounts of 20,000 N26 customers to gauge spending resilience during the cost surge.
• From early 2021 to late 2024 men’s incomes rose by 27.4 percent compared with a 24.4 percent increase for women.
• Women’s restrained spending habits translated into a 34.2 percent lower reliance on overdraft credit than men.
• Variable consumer outlays climbed 23.8 percent between 2021 and 2023, outpacing the 20.3 percent rise in wages and triggering liquidity shortages in 2022 and 2023.
• Wage growth finally outstripped spending in 2024, leading to falling overdraft use at year’s end and a modest rebound in purchasing power.