As I listen to pundits, media personalities, authors, influencers, politicians and researchers bemoan that Millennials/GenZ (MGZ) are the first two generations to be financially worse than their parents, I’m calling bullshit.
Here’s what I observe in the lifestyles of MGZ adults:
- Vacations to the Caribbean, Italy, France and other exotic destinations.
- The latest iPhones, MacBooks, iPads, AirPods, Apple Watches and other gadgets.
- Expensive food: fancy restaurants & bars, meal prep services, Doordash and Instacart.
- Servants: Maids, lawn care, car detailers, laundry service.
- Luxury cars, clothing, goods and apartments.
- First Class fights to ski resorts, beach vacations and shopping sprees.
I see a mismatch of expectations to reality. The expectation is to have a life of luxurious conspicuous consumption starting immediately. The reality is quite different for most of us. We have to work, scrimp, save and struggle to earn enough to cover our necessities. If we’re lucky, over decades we’ll slowly be able to build a more luxurious life.
In some ways, I now realize that growing up poor made it much easier for me to appreciate the life I built because I had low expectations. I never counted on being rich & famous.
I wanted what the “rich” people around me had:
- Small homes that they owned (vs renting a shitty apartment from an asshole landlord). These homes were not updated with marble countertops, new kitchens and redone bathrooms. Wall to wall shag carpet and a window air conditioner were luxury items. The idea of a “starter” home was nonexistent. Many people lived in the home they grew up in.
- A reliable used car with many mile on it. Many families had one vehicle, did their own maintenance on it and only replaced it if it was totaled in an accident.
- A well stocked fridge and pantry.
- Parents who made dinner, attended school events, helped with homework and even helped pay for clothes and school expenses.
- An occasional treat like going to the movies, playing miniature golf, getting ice cream from the ice cream man and ordering a pizza on a Friday night.
What I saw on “Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous” and “MTV Cribs” was not applicable to me. I never expected designer clothing, fine dining, private jets, mansions, yachts, servants or exotic vacations.
I think many people in their 20s-40s are doing just fine. Of course they don’t have what their parents have — their parents have been working for twenty, thirty or forty years already. In time, these MGZs will probably earn more money and be able to afford more.
The other thing that MGZs don’t realize is that us GenXs and Boomers didn’t pay for streaming services, cell phones, Uber, luxury apartments, designer clothes, fine dining and the other luxuries Listed earlier. Many of these didn’t exist when we were young adults. And the luxuries that did exist were so far out of reach, we simply couldn’t afford them.
As for the all the doomsayers whom I’m calling bullshit on, I get it. It’s easier to generate clicks, capture attention and get likes selling misery and (false) empathy.
I question their facts. Even more so I question their motives.
There is a solution to all of this. It’s simple. It might be hard to get started, but if you plow forward, it gets easier. In time, you might even find you are already living a rich life.
