The picture of the doting parent, sacrificing to give the kids everything, has just gotten a little crazier.

Not only do parents admit to overspending on their kids’ holiday gifts, they’re tapping their retirement funds to do so.

That’s according to T. Rowe Price’s 2015 Parents, Kids & Money survey, which not only found that 62 percent of parents agreed with the statement, “I spent more for my kids over the holidays than I should have,” but that 7 percent of respondents actually admitted to using their retirement accounts as holiday spending cash.

Even more tapped their emergency funds to do so, at 9 percent, although fortunately the greater majority used more conventional means.

Although maybe it’s not so fortunate after all, since 47 percent used credit cards, racking up those balances. Fifty-six percent said they used their current income to overspend on the kiddies’ sugar plum visions.

Not that overspending makes them happy: 50 percent of parents who overspent on the holidays argue about money with their spouses, while just 27 percent of the parents who didn’t overspend for the holidays argued with their spouses about money.

Thirty-six percent of parents said they saved throughout the year to cover the cost of holiday gifts, although obviously the spending didn’t stop there.

And a lot of the parents who save regularly to buy holiday gifts—a full 30 percent—save for those gifts, but don’t save regularly for their own retirement.

Now that’s just sad. Oh, and 28 percent don’t save for the kids’ college costs, either—but manage to sock it away for holiday gifts.

Ironically—or maybe not—62 percent of parents who don’t save through the course of the year to cover their holiday spending feel they set a good financial example for the kids.

Dads, incidentally, are more likely to spend retirement money on the holidays at 11 percent, while just 3 percent of moms do so. Eleven percent of dads, again, resort to emergency funds to come up with holiday cash, while 6 percent of moms do.

And moms do more saving throughout the year for the holidays than dads do: 40 percent of them say they regularly put money away for the holidays, while just 32 percent of dads set aside the funds.

Instant Insights /

Parents spending retirement savings on kids&rsquo; holiday gifts

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Parents spending retirement savings on kids’ holiday gifts