The millennial money debate seems to cause a stir in the media. I hate stirs and stereotypes when it comes to young people and money. Being born between early 1980 and the early 2000s we have witnessed massive changes and grown up in the digital age which is always switched on.
Most millennial articles discuss how generation X, Y, Z or whatever letter we’re on spend money, the brands we buy, are average salaries and their view points about finance.
We are told millennials aren’t saving, aren’t investing and are handling our millennial money and futures all wrong.
My Leftovers post clearly examines my own fears of a millennial who feels angry and afraid of the future. Who in their twenties doesn’t worry about their careers, cash flow, condoms and the price of cashew nuts?
Today money troubles seem to hit the young with a slap in the face. It’s the school of hard knocks. After college and university tuition fees we are stacked up to our eyeballs in debt, unable to afford our own home and saving and investing for our financial future is a laughable joke.
If you don’t have spare money at your disposal how can you save anything? Right now poor millenials don’t have enough money to invest and there is too much conflicting financial advice on how to do it.
How can millennials do any financial planning when your money disappears on high rents, student loans, travel, utility bills and food? Are very lives are built on instability and insecurity. Not much can be planned or saved for when it’s a case of living pay cheque to pay cheque.
Many millennials experienced the great recession and watch their parents pension plan sink into the toilet when markets crashed and struggled to find high paying work during austerity.
The fact is money sucks for all civilisations and we all deal and think about money in different ways. When it comes to millennial finance there is a belief we are crazy wasteful spenders. Everyone is quick to judge and jumping to conclusions about millenials. Older generations always complain about youth, they think we are lazy, materialistic and a bunch of narcissist rebels. They forget they were young once.
This attitude, like the stereotyping of students is a big generalisation of how we handle our money and lifestyle. Millennials can be dizzy with our money but the reality is many are hard up and not all of them are in a position to save money.
What more surprising is the people complaining about “the youth of today” are the very people who we pay the rent to every month. Some millennials still have no choice but to live at home with their parents.
I lack brand loyalty because the brands don’t have any loyalty or faith in us. How can we engage with a capitalist economy that wants us to buy all the time. The only reason they engage with us at all on social media is because they want us to spend money with them. If business can’t capture the attention of Generation Y they can’t sell to us.
We are disengaged because right now it seems hopeless. How can we feel part of an economy and system that demands so much of us? Where the best financial advice we get is “make a budget”. I publish my own budgets on here and they weren’t always happy reading. Crippled by debt for my education and further disadvantaged by own silly money mistakes. A fool at both ends – not saving and not managing my money as well as I should.
Luckily things are changing. I’m budgeting, have imposed spending cuts, become more frugal and aware of my money. They are lots of financial pressures facing millennials and sound financial guidance that you trust isn’t easy to come by.
Every generation past, present and future will bitch about the “youth of today” and “how it was when I was a kid”. The thing that they forget is the youth is the future of human-kind. The future always rest on the next generation, it’s them that will find the cure for cancer and engineer technology to advance the species.
Each generation needs to improve the world in some way. Maybe in the future wealth won’t matter and people will laugh at the concept of money and personal finance. After all money and its value is a socially constructed system. When the economy sucks everybody complains, everybody suffers.
Past generations blame millennial money management on the failing economy. For millennials the retirement age will be so high we’ll just about be able to claim our first state pension on our death beds.
We don’t enjoy the struggle for survival. It’s easy to criticise us when our optimism, finances and choices have dried up. Our generation are a bunch of financial refugees.
There is no doubt young people need help with their finances. Me included.