I wonder if the 20 and 30 somethings find it ironic as hell some grumpy old folks would worry about how they are spending their money............
Good point.
All eight of my employees are in their 20s and 30s. They are all hard working, frugal, and savers. They all paid their way through college or worked jobs while the parents helped. They saved up for down payments on houses or they make the conscious decision to rent and not incur the additional overhead of taxes, insurance, or maintenance tasks that imposes on their time. They mostly drive old beater rigs, buy used stuff, and laugh at how the 50+ year-old generation blows their money on material things, as generalized as that last statement is.
The value they place on the most precious commodity of time seems to be far advanced from what my grasp of that concept was at their age. If I asked any of them the choice between a $5K bonus or a month off work, they would be logging off their computer and headed to their next adventure without blinking an eye.
Yet, I know a ton of people my age who are on the great American treadmill hoping for just one more stock market run so they can pay off their second mortgage that was used to buy a European vacation and new SUV, vehicle four in the garage. And to avoid generalization by single example, I know many my age who got off the treadmill in their 40's and gave the middle finger to the the great American idea of "More is better. Just give your employer more of your time."
The generalizations of either group are just that, generalizations. I see my age groups does more critiquing of the younger generations than the other way around, which could be a function of my peer group. I get why young folks came up with the "Boomer" memes and responses.
As a CPA that gets to see just how much debt a lot of 50+ year olds are dragging around and how poorly prepared they are for their later years, I don't see that level of debt in younger people I know. Maybe younger folks have surprisingly healthy balance sheets compared to a lot of 50+ folks, as they haven't been around long enough to acquire the same level of debt.
I did have a December conversation that was a bit sticky when a 63 year-old started railing on millennials, socialism, lazy asses, Bernie, AOC, etc. You know, the topics with trendy memes on FB these days. About two sentences later he talked about how his health care costs will go waaaay down when he can get on Medicare in less than two years. I smiled and quipped, "That socialism shit is a bitch, isn't it." He knew full well what I was saying and laughed along with me. I picked up the tab for breakfast.
Point of reciting that encounter is that when we generalize these topics, we can find many examples that support our position. And, sometimes we accept the pedaled narrative without much examination of our own habits and tendencies, however hypocritical (myself included).
The 20-39 folks I talk to are fully aware that when they entered the workforce, the 50+ folks and generations of single-issue voting tendencies have resulted in fiscal irresponsibility that has each of these youngsters saddled with over $70K of US debt that was spent before these young folks were even old enough to vote. And if you add other future promises not on the books that the 50+ crowd has made to themselves in the way of future benefits, it is triple that amount per millennial. They accept that huge US debt as part of their situation in life. If they whine about it, they do that whining where I don't hear it.
Given their frugality, as has been my anecdotal observation, and comparing it to the lack of financial responsibility (individually and collectively) that I have seen in many of my 50+ peers, along with how much debt we have saddled them with by making future promises to our collective selves, I'm not inclined to comment on the spending habits of younger people. I do admire the priority they (the ones I know) place on time and freedom.
Not sure what this diversion about generational behaviors has to do with a housing crisis. Carry on ........
5 BR 2BA, 4 car garage, 9 acres, a town of about 8,000 within an hour of a city.
