Your Wealth Effect

I believe studying how and where people spend their money, especially their discretionary dollars, is an excellent way to gauge how confident they are in their current financial situation.

One of the best examples of this I can think of are 5K races. Here’s why:

• Why spend the $15-40 entrance fee when you can run for free?

• 5K races remain the most popular U.S. running event in both the number of races (15,200 in 2013) as well as the number of participants (8,300,000 in 2013).

• A 5K race does not require expensive gear or training thus opening it up to a wide variety of incomes.

• 5K racers come in all ages and sizes.

• 5K races are not restricted to just select areas. They take place all over the country and during all times of the year.

• The table below shows how the growth of running slowed dramatically during 2007/8 and starting increasing again in 2009.

2013 U.S. Running Events

Distance # Finishers % of Total # of Events % of Total

5K 8,300,000 43.6% 15,200 54%

Half-Marathon 1,960,000 10.3% 2,100 8%

10K 1,480,000 7.9% 3,200 11%

Marathon 541,000 2.8% 1,100 4%

Others 6,744,000 35.4% 6,600 23%

Totals 19,025,000 28,200

Source: Athlinks.com

Here is a listing of the twenty-five largest 5K races in the U.S. along with the number of finishers they had in 2013.