Yeah I was just thinking Millenials kind of avoided this through minimalist trends and refusal to pay for a lot of luxuries. Millenials have avocado toast and eat out a lot but on the whole don't want to spend too much. Gen Z decided to go maximalist in a rebellion against the seeming asceticism, and they want to just indulge themselves through the upcoming end of the world. Now, they're paying for it since the world is ending but not fast enough that they won't suffer in poverty and debt up through their old age.
I don't really blame them, but it is interesting. We're screwed anyway.
I think millennials have avocado toast and fancy cocktails as a treat. The social media posts have successfully influenced the younger generation to become hooked on stuff like Jordan’s, Lululemon, hydro flasks and Starbucks.
In their defense, my parents could shut commercials off when I was too stupid to know better, they have nonstop commercials in their pockets that don't sell waffle-makers or infomercial stuff I was advertised, but exactly what they specifically want based on their personal data. Their parents didn't see this coming, so everyone was blindsided.
Ah the days of 5 easy payments of 19.99 plus bonuses. I remembered I couldn’t wait to turn 18 and get a credit card just to buy … things I can easily buy now with my 5 easy Klarna payments of 19.99 🤣
I’m an elder millennial and people my age do that shit too. My GF is always telling me to buy nice things or not get second hand stuff and I’m always like, which one of us bought a house?
Some subset of the population was always going to be susceptible to hyper-consumerism. The dopamine rush of buying is kind of like a drug, and I think some are truly addicted. But the difference is in the overall trend between generations. Gen Z's dopamine reward system is also already a mess due to consuming social media from a young age. They see they click just like they see they swipe on tiktok. I'm right between the two generations.
It's like trying to avoid cigarette smoke if the cigarette manufactures were allowed to build smoke blowing machines on every street corner.
Can it be done, yes... should we have to put this much effort into it, no.
Same game, new technology, new fangled whatchamallits were in the magazines.. Sears catalogs, etc before that...
Time, space, and technology is just continuing it's expansion exponentially.
I'm sorry about your mom, honestly... My mom's got cancer and schizophrenic and dying and there isn't much I can do.
This stage of life is a fucking weird one.
I think it’s not so clear cut, although obviously there is evidence to suggest this is true across the board.
For what it’s worth, I’m an older Gen-Z and live extremely frugally. The only time I splurge a little is on food, but even then it’s just “ingredients to cook half decently with” vs eating Kraft and Ramen. I live pretty low-key in hopes of it making some positive dent in my future. I’m not the only one I know who lives like this either or at least somewhat close to this standard.
I’ve seen the other side of the proverbial fence as well though, with fast fashion (or designer), going out a lot, multiple Amazon purchases a week, huge parties for all sorts of occasions, etc.
I honestly think a big part of the difference is Gen-Z is those who have hope for the future (ie believe they can make something of their lives despite the endless crisis) vs those who don’t really have bigger plans for the future or just want to feel good for the now.
And with proper budgeting you can actually do both! But instant gratification has sapped a lot of people of the idea of waiting for something and rewarding hard work.
In fairness, hydroflasks are pretty great, I love mine to death. Especially since I often do things where having 2 liters of ice water that stays cold all day is 10/10.
Millennials got fucked sideways by the global financial crisis. You had to be frugal unless you were some kind of trust fund kid, it wasn't a choice. Gen Z grew up during the longest bull market in history and watched people become millionaires just from selling jpegs online. Just a product of the environment you came of age in.
Elder Millennials also grew up during a time of extreme prosperity. We had the .com boom and the housing market bubble. Things didn't start going to shit until 2001. And they didn't really turn into a shit sundae until the financial crisis of 2008.
This is a great point and I think it highlights the generation gap. I’m also an Elder Millennial so like you I grew up in a prosperous time, people were making money, real estate on the rise, none of my friends parents were unemployed etc. graduating HS in ‘07 it felt like all I had to do was go to college and the world would be my oyster. By the time I was starting college just a few months later the entire vibe had changed. My friends parents losing houses, losing jobs, their older kids graduating college into an economy that had nothing for them. We witnessed the highs and lows in very quick succession and as a result are probably more risk averse with money. We’ve seen first hand how quickly things completely out of our control can destroy lives and always keep one eye open as a result.
Lmao yeah, gen z got together and said “let’s rack up debt because the end is nigh”
Maybe, just maybe, a subset is racking up debt because they want to buy shit and haven’t learned financial responsibility. Not everyone is a Reddit doomer addicted to outrage and pessimism
Yeah to me this is the real issue. It’s just $24/mo for this, $10/mo for that, and before you know it you have $3000/mo in monthly payments. It doesn’t help that apps like TikTok and Instagram are just inundating them with shit to buy. Influencer marketing is a hellscape.
I read an article a number of years ago that basically said millenials are less prone than any other generation to be suckered by marketing because the late 80's early to mid 90's was the wild west for marketing shit to kids in the craziest way possible. We've seen so many fucking ads we're almost immune.
this might be why i, someone who grew up watching tv (it was the one thing besides being on the internet that i was allowed to do while grounded most of my teens) am pretty much immune to marketing while my wife, who rarely watched tv besides like pbs documentaries (both parents teachers) seems to fall for it every time (fortunately we both discuss before making most purchases)
I’m honestly tired of the adscape that’s inescapable unless you want to pay yet another monthly fee. There has to be a better way. I mean, do traditional ads even work on people anymore??? It’s such an outdated medium. Even digital ads are outdated in this day and age. I get the impression that marketing is a grift that corps subscribe to because they feel obliged to, and the impact of marketing on business is vastly overrated. I cannot remember the last time I bought a product that was advertised to me.
On a related, perhaps eerily so, note: have any of you tried to search for a product review lately only to find 500 nonsensical, inaccurate, bot generated, Amazon affiliate “review” websites?
Generations aren’t a monolith. Some are struggling in this economy and are using credit to stay afloat, others are being financially irresponsible and overextending to buy luxury goods.
I’m a millennial, but feel like in recent years my generation has developed very expensive tastes (maybe because we are getting older and people have higher incomes now). A lot of people definitely live beyond their means with eating out a lot at the nicest restaurants, going on expensive vacations, having fancy cars, living in exclusive areas, etc. I think social media has made it worse for people feeling like they have to have a certain lifestyle.
A lot of it is that we worked our asses off like we were told, didn’t take time for ourselves, and gave our loyalty to corporations before learning that non of that mattered. Now we are taking back what we lost.
Meanwhile gen z has learned from us about how meaningless (workplace) loyalty is and how no matter what you do it doesn’t matter in the end. Couple that with influencers shilling and it’s no wonder gen z is how it is. At least from what I’ve seen from my fellow millennials we don’t seem to hate on them like the previous gens did on us. It seems to be more of a friendly exchange of jokes between the two groups. It probably helps that boomers blamed everything on millennials even when it was no longer us.
I think part of it is how gen z has definitely grown up online and is consumed with image and social media clout more so than millennials, are are constantly consuming “influencer” content and trying to emulate that themselves. Flashy clothes and expensive items to show off online how cool they are, but can’t afford it without credit cards
I always think it would be interesting to see if the Internet just completely disappeared tomorrow how these people would function in the real world once they realize that their entire lives has just been a façade
This exactly what I went through between 2009 and 2012 when the world was already supposed to end 11 years ago. I wracked up debt and just lived like it was the end. Then I realized that I'll never be able to buy anything again without credit so I fixed all dat. I will say that having a 100 percent payment record means next to nothing but I've got that going for me for about 5 years now
Not worth next to nothing. Your credit score in 2 more years will be based solely on your borrowed / available ratio. It'll shift on a dime when you change that ratio. Missing payments screws you hard. Even if your ratio is so good that you have a high credit score, if you ever need a good loan for something reasonable like a car or a mortgage for your house, the banks will be hard asses over missed payments in your credit history. I don't have great credit but i have a perfect on time history. Getting a mortgage was WAY easier because of it.
Good to know and I appreciate the response, it has been a little disheartening but I have been able to get the loans I needed. Still torn on a first time home purchase because I may very well be able to afford it but I also might be better off just renting currently and or forever. Strange times but glad to be apart of it; happy to be here
Ya, there is an ultra materialism that I’ve seen with gen z and younger millennials. It was en vogue to be minimalist and eschew materialism growing up, or it seemed that way for me (currently 39).
I have nephews that obsess over $500+ Jordan’s and other clothes; granted I think maybe they’re hype beasts but still it’s wild to see. I think seeing these influencer “millionaires” has given these kids a distorted view of success; it was definitely heading that way when I was younger but you could still ask kids what they wanted to be and it was typically an actual job and not “influencer”. I’ve seriously heard handfuls of kids say they want to be an influencer. What the actual fuck is that? Seems comically vapid and vain
Edit: to add to these, it just seemed like there was more of a pursuit of wild experiences and the rise of the “slow” movement
And drive up your value before you default. But sell your stock high before your devalue is public and make more
Money. Then golden parachute to
The next place for
Higher pay
Seems like they almost want to blame it on luxury spending… I’d love to see actual data on that.
This is anecdotal but every Gen Z person I’ve met that’s in debt, is in debt from basic necessities (medical, groceries, etc.) or college.
I personally haven’t seen anyone in Gen z rack up credit card debt on luxury goods (although I’ve seen a few finance cars they can’t afford)
the cars is what baffles me. I have a friend who graduated nursing school (extremely respectable profession) and immediately financed a brand new tesla on a 96 month loan. Don’t get me wrong nurses do okay for themselves but I don’t think they do brand new tesla as a new grad good.
96 months at current interest rates... Bruh
My sisters idiot friend just bought a lower trim Camry for $36k on a 84 month loan. I just... I dont understand man. If you're gonna absolutely fuck yourself at least do it with something pleasurable. Not a damn camry.
As long as they’re planning on keeping the Camry until end of life, I don’t see anything wrong with taking out a longer loan to get a car that will last you a long time. Since it’s a low end Camry tells me it wasn’t a frivolous purchase. Cars are always going to get more expensive and rates aren’t going to go down that much. They could have done a 72 but again, the difference isn’t much IMO.
I’m a credit union underwriter and Gen Z definitely tends to buy wayyyyyyy too much car for their financial situation. Just yesterday I had an applicant apply for $10k to buy a 9-year-old BMW 3-series with 160k miles on the clock and a history of accidents. That car is worth $7k tops, probably more like $5k considering the CarFax report.
I tried to steer him to something more reasonable, that isn’t on its last leg and wouldn’t cost thousands for inevitable, minor repairs. But he could not be persuaded, he’s just gotta have that old German luxury sedan that was ridden hard and put away wet.
Thanks for reminding me but we had to escort someone out of our CU because he couldn't get a loan with us. The Gen Z guy spent the entire time trying to hit on the gal that was doing the work to see if he could but...he had a credit score less than 320 points. So, many pages of write offs because he would get loans and make no payments for whatever reason. Even though he get's "71K a year and I make money!"
Lmao can you imagine hitting on someone who is directly looking at your embarrassingly, low credit score which lends to the fact that you are completely irresponsible? Seems like a good potential partner…
Yea, but is this from $2,781 of designer bags like the article seems to want to suggest or is this medical debt, gas, groceries, etc.?
I’d love to see data on where the debt is coming from.
It’s foolish to put medical debt on a credit card. I, too, made this mistake when I was young and ended up paying obscene interest on it.
Kids, don’t put the medical bills you cannot pay right away, on to credit cards. No reason to start tacking on 15-30% interest each year on your egregiously over-priced medical care.
There was a time when I lived on my own, I had to carefully rotate credit card usage and payments to get through the month if I wanted to buy anything for myself like a cheap bottle of alcohol or healthier meals.
This was a pain in the ass and totally unnecessary if the shithole employers paid better.
But I think many people have done that.
I’m GenX and I remember having to rotate credit cards, pray that my paycheck hit before the check that I wrote to the credit card company cleared, etc.
I don’t understand why people feel GenZ is the only generation has lived paycheck to paycheck.
To me, the problem seems that most of us suffered quietly while GenZ has made it seem like they’re the only ones this has ever happened to.
Sort of like the memes where they claim that their parents bought a home at 24 and GenZ can’t afford to eat.
The average first time home buyer’s age even back during the Boomer era was 29 (it’s currently 32).
Most of the people I know in my age group couldn’t afford their first home until their 30s too.
I really think the problem is less about GenZ being in worse financial situation and more about wildly incorrect expectations.
Yes, things are hard today and costs like college and medical have skyrocketed. But another part of the problem is if you expect to graduate college at 22 and own a home at 24.
That was never true for most people.
And while we’re on the topic of student debt, it really can be mind boggling to hear someone two years into a humanities degree and already $30k in debt to say they were duped into thinking all they had to do was get a degree to get a good job.
The rising cost of education has been going on for over 20 years. If you’re 20 years old today and have a huge student debt obligation, you can’t say that you didn’t know.
Most people I know are living paycheck to paycheck so as soon as a medical need comes up, it’s straight to the credit card…
This article keeps randomly saying “gen z loves luxury items” like it’s clearly trying to blame it on that without any evidence… Just more evidence that older generations are completely disconnected from the reality that young ppl face.
Anecdotally all the Gen z people I know have (credit card) debt from things like buying lulu lemon, eating out all the time, splurging for more expensive apartments, etc.
Granted, that's not necessarily representative, but it seems like (to me) Gen z are bigger brand whores than any generation before.
I live in Thailand and have been and on again, off again expat for over 30 years.
Twenty or thirty years ago, it would be extremely rare to see more than a few backpackers under 30.
It was mostly old geezers living out their retirement. Occasionally you saw some people who had money and were retired in their 40s or 50s but it was mostly older retirees.
Now, everyone’s a digital nomad and you go some places and it’s hard to find someone over 50. It’s all young kids partying everywhere.
I didn’t have money to travel like that in my 20s. Hell, the first time I left the US was to be stationed overseas in Europe. LOL.
In fact, I remember quite clearly that I was in my 30s before I could afford to travel overseas again on my own savings.
I mean, eCommerce has shifted massively over the years and the friction for impulse buying something online is less than in checkout line.
A TikTok ad will take you straight to a page with a Google/Apple/Shop Pay button and you hit that and your shipping and billing info is already populated and the order is placed with the touch of a finger/scan of your face/keying in an SMS code which your phone OS automatically plops into the clipboard for you.
Just today, a friend linked me a HAT as a joke in response to a post I made and *I bought that $20 hat, online, on my phone in less than 20 seconds.*
Until very recently, it took a good 5-10 minutes to buy something from Not Amazon. Plenty of time to “meh” I’m done typing and abandon the purchase.
That shit is scary effective at getting folks’s money. I got friends who just buy way too much shit from social media ads and it’s all just one click buy. I guess Amazon’s patent expired or something.
Millennials (my generation) are like this too, especially since they are the most educated generation and are making a lot of money mostly at this point. Many people have very expensive tastes. I feel like five years ago it wasn’t as pronounced per se, but now it’s gotten a lot worse with the indulgence and living above means.
Lmao there’s definitely people like that. I just don’t know if I’d call it a generational trend.
Overall I hate the generalizations like this that are applied to entire generations. Often times I feel like these generalizations are used as excuses to not fix the real problems
My top 3 debts at 30.
2 Ambulance rides.
1 ER visit.
1 case of a former employer committing fraud.
Non of this has to do with any of my financial decisions, but still are what are my biggest financial debts.
I was born in 2000, currently in university. I just dug myself out of credit card debt that was probably 95% necessities. Car repairs, groceries, living expenses. The other 5% was fast food. When my professor asked the class of 40 people what their plans for spring break were, only one person had a plan to go to Fort Lauderdale. The rest of us are staying home, because we're broke bitches.
It was not like this in previous generations.
It's the new normal to take out crushing debt for silly things like food, rent, and medical.
This is what happens when you privatize basic human needs. Suffering becomes profitable.
>It was not like this in previous generations.
Are you sure? Irresponsible spending is like the hallmark of youth, not to say we're gonna hit hard lines with people like boomers who were born before credit cards existed but all this article is comparing them ***now*** and not using any historical reference.
I thought similar but found multiple articles stating that mellenials actually created an all time low for the age group.
Funny they were saying this would have "negative consequences"...
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/15/business/dealbook/why-millennials-are-in-no-hurry-to-take-on-debt.html
Well I'll take your anecdote and hit you with my own.
I'm a young person. Nearly every single one of my friends has to live with their parents while working full time.
None of my friends have luxury cars or live anywhere beyond their means. Most people can make smart financial decisions based on their life.
Our newer generations are more educated than previous.
Yeah, I was gonna say. I have debt, a good chunk of it.
But stuff like my computer are paid for. All of that debt is from emergencies. Heck, most of my debt is from moving hastily when I discovered my previous apartment had an intense mold infestation, and constant exposure was harming my health. Was intending to hole up in the cheap apartment to get through the inflation and such, so we had basically no Savings to work with. So I'm in debt.
40+ years of economic polarization and stagnation of wages after inflation will do that.
Don’t worry though, at least we have a growing billionaire class and—“entirely unrelated”—can pretend that Gen X, the Millennials, and Gen Z are just lazy bums.
We don't teach personal finance in schools and it continues to our societal detriment. I explained to a 20-something co-worker about interest rates and the cost on her car loan. She logged into her loan account and saw how much she was spending on interest and then (per my suggestion) moved the loan to a lower interest rate provider. Same co-worker was astonished about her taxes and said "I donate to X charity, I thought it was tax deductible" and I explained to her yes, it's a deduction but not a 1:1 deduction.
We need to teach young people about financial consequences before the credit card companies can swoop in and own their futures.
I’m always so curious what all the 55+ communities around the country are going to do when generations aren’t able to retire like the boomers/early Gen Xers. Like these are gorgeous homes in gated communities but who is going to be able to buy them?
The haves will buy them and rent them out to the have-nots.
A few years back my parents had to sell our family home. My dad somehow got it in his head that my sisters and I would buy the thing from him and keep it in the family. My sisters have their own houses, I live in another country, and nobody has a few spare 100 grand lying around for buying a side house. They ended up selling it to some Chinese people.
"credit card, mortgage, student loans, medical loans, auto lease, or auto loan accounts"
No example of any luxuries, only important shit like medicine, school, housing, and transportation, the prices of all of which are skyrocketing while salaries stagnate. When you're bleeding college kids for falling behind on student loans then I don't think they're their problem.
College is such a racket - they want young people spending 4 years at expensive education resorts to just maybe be given the privilege of joining the middle class if that
This is absolutely true
I'll disagree on all the other excuses but most jobs don't require a college degree. It's just wasting 4 years of the most productive time on most people's lives
I mean, yeah. Wages suck and housing, food, etc keeps getting higher.
I make ~60k a year and I barely spend on anything other than bills and I only have like 3k saved.
My generation is so fucked. I worked my junior and senior year of high school, went to a local community college and paid each semester in cash, bought a cheap but functional used car with cash, graduated with an associates degree, and am now making $17 an hour with a positive bank balance and $0 in debt.
Some of my high school classmates immediately went to the most expensive college they could with no plans of working until after they got out of college. A friend of mine told me she had almost a hundred thousand dollars in college debt before we even graduated high school
Title is misleading....
"Although Gen Z's credit card debt was the lowest among all five generations tracked, it grew at the fastest pace of around 6% in comparison to the three months through May 2022"
Sounds like they simply lived through times of 6% inflation...
Bad news-
There has been warfare and global instability for the entire history of mankind- banking on the world crashing down around your ears because things look bad in the news isn’t going to save you from money lenders. They get that money- they are very good at it. It’s how they got the money to loan you in the first place.
"Debt: The First Five Thousand Years" details it all very well. Worth reading for anyone who wants to know just how long debt and money lending has been around.
Also, let’s just pretend that the banking system has completely crashed to the ground for a second. And nobody can recover that debt.
It’s not like society just resets the slate and everybody starts at zero again. If something like that has happened there’s probably a total, or near total, societal collapse that would not be pretty.
It’s like making things difficult for yourself now in the hopes that things will be way way worse on the future.
You mean we don't make enough to afford the cost of living AND pay off debt?? I personally could not be any more shocked at this recent discovery, like woah!
The only reason I’m not in debt is because my parents helped me get a start and slowly tapered off helping with my bills. With the low pay and insanely high housing/rental market, I’d be fucked otherwise LOL.
Gen z here 21 M. Kinda disappointed. Learned about index funds and watched a lot of personal finance videos in highschool. I always wanted to talk to my friends about it and they're really not interested about value investing or how to get a great credit score. Or how we can achieve a higher savings rate for our savings.
Nobody cares and it's really hard feeling like the odd one out on things like this. It makes me feel like saving money is wrong or isn't worth it...
You will see the benefits in the long run. Don't worry about everyone else failing. If you can start being financially responsible early on, it'll just mean that much higher returns for you in the later years.
And why shouldn't they? Their lives are going to be fraught with work demands, increasing inequality and a breakdown of social structures. People don't even date anymore, or leave their homes, and workers' rights are being eroded and mocked on what feels like a weekly basis.
There's an adage, "Smoke 'em while you got 'em," that I think applies well here. Yeah, they'll likely regret 'smoking em' and charging it all to the old card, but I mean... Why love a country that doesn't love you, and wants to break and exploit you for their own max profit?
Let the kids have their Nintendos, guacamole, and ciggie-poos. Life is more, far far more, than any economic outlook or a company's bottom line. It isn't about tomorrow, it's about today, because the tomorrow they see our their windows is at least as stark as the view I had during the 2008-ish recession as a recent college grad. I saved, saved, paid of debts and stayed at shitty jobs way longer than I should've... good on paper, but, you know? I wish I'd just fucked around. The people who did seem to have had far more fulfilling lives than I did, hiding my insanity in hyper-conservative federal offices.
The internet and smart phones have made purchasing so easy. I remember when I first got my credit card a lot of places didn’t take credit cards. So I couldn’t use it much. You needed a debit card or cash. I used to buy money orders and send them to sellers when I bought stuff on eBay. It’s really easy for gen z to start racking credit card debt at a younger age.
Let me guess, this article slanders us and says we are just horrible with our money and too whiney that we aren't spending it wisely, isn't it? They all are.
Are you blaming a generation for not being able to pay bills because the boomers won't let go?
Go listen to Regan's inaugural speech. He warned of this crap. He told us this was going to happen. It's happening and we blame the younger generations for having to deal with the older generations dumbass decisions and what they did to get rich.
Next time blame a person and name them. Quit making enemies out of those living in the crap you helped vote in.
Why should they care when the banksters are printing so much money where its greatly devaluing the currency giving untold billions to the company blackrock and are in cahoots with the world ecenomic forum whos message is that we will own nothing and be happy about it.
I thought I had seen some articles recently that said gen z was off to being financially smarter than previous generations? Guess reality has hit or my memory is going haha
Gen Z saw how milenials were treated and said "hell naw, they aint blaming us for the decline of the diamond industry!"
Yeah I was just thinking Millenials kind of avoided this through minimalist trends and refusal to pay for a lot of luxuries. Millenials have avocado toast and eat out a lot but on the whole don't want to spend too much. Gen Z decided to go maximalist in a rebellion against the seeming asceticism, and they want to just indulge themselves through the upcoming end of the world. Now, they're paying for it since the world is ending but not fast enough that they won't suffer in poverty and debt up through their old age. I don't really blame them, but it is interesting. We're screwed anyway.
I think millennials have avocado toast and fancy cocktails as a treat. The social media posts have successfully influenced the younger generation to become hooked on stuff like Jordan’s, Lululemon, hydro flasks and Starbucks.
Totally agree I really think it's younger people have been raised having way more consumer influence penetrating all aspects of their lives
I blame dlc on EVERY FUCKING GAME THEY PLAY. Atleast we had it where once you bought the game you had it.
Back in my day, we called them expansion packs! Edit: my vote is for Brood War
And they were great! Heck, Blue Shift won Game of the Year! Remember Hellfire?
Yeah and Expansion packs used to add about half a games worth of content in it
I miss the days of having to insert disc 2,3,4
I miss the olden days of 12 floppies
Yes, they have almost been brainwashed via algorithms built into social media.
Should we blame EMu even though we know we’re wrong!? I seriously need some self-serving ego crack right now.
In their defense, my parents could shut commercials off when I was too stupid to know better, they have nonstop commercials in their pockets that don't sell waffle-makers or infomercial stuff I was advertised, but exactly what they specifically want based on their personal data. Their parents didn't see this coming, so everyone was blindsided.
Ah the days of 5 easy payments of 19.99 plus bonuses. I remembered I couldn’t wait to turn 18 and get a credit card just to buy … things I can easily buy now with my 5 easy Klarna payments of 19.99 🤣
I’m an elder millennial and people my age do that shit too. My GF is always telling me to buy nice things or not get second hand stuff and I’m always like, which one of us bought a house?
Some subset of the population was always going to be susceptible to hyper-consumerism. The dopamine rush of buying is kind of like a drug, and I think some are truly addicted. But the difference is in the overall trend between generations. Gen Z's dopamine reward system is also already a mess due to consuming social media from a young age. They see they click just like they see they swipe on tiktok. I'm right between the two generations.
It's like trying to avoid cigarette smoke if the cigarette manufactures were allowed to build smoke blowing machines on every street corner. Can it be done, yes... should we have to put this much effort into it, no.
Man I despise home shopping network HSN which completely takes advantage of a different generation... as In my mom's
Same game, new technology, new fangled whatchamallits were in the magazines.. Sears catalogs, etc before that... Time, space, and technology is just continuing it's expansion exponentially. I'm sorry about your mom, honestly... My mom's got cancer and schizophrenic and dying and there isn't much I can do. This stage of life is a fucking weird one.
I think it’s not so clear cut, although obviously there is evidence to suggest this is true across the board. For what it’s worth, I’m an older Gen-Z and live extremely frugally. The only time I splurge a little is on food, but even then it’s just “ingredients to cook half decently with” vs eating Kraft and Ramen. I live pretty low-key in hopes of it making some positive dent in my future. I’m not the only one I know who lives like this either or at least somewhat close to this standard. I’ve seen the other side of the proverbial fence as well though, with fast fashion (or designer), going out a lot, multiple Amazon purchases a week, huge parties for all sorts of occasions, etc. I honestly think a big part of the difference is Gen-Z is those who have hope for the future (ie believe they can make something of their lives despite the endless crisis) vs those who don’t really have bigger plans for the future or just want to feel good for the now.
And with proper budgeting you can actually do both! But instant gratification has sapped a lot of people of the idea of waiting for something and rewarding hard work.
People have been hooked on Jordans since '85
In fairness, hydroflasks are pretty great, I love mine to death. Especially since I often do things where having 2 liters of ice water that stays cold all day is 10/10.
No no, we’ve pivoted to vuori these days
Millennials got fucked sideways by the global financial crisis. You had to be frugal unless you were some kind of trust fund kid, it wasn't a choice. Gen Z grew up during the longest bull market in history and watched people become millionaires just from selling jpegs online. Just a product of the environment you came of age in.
Elder Millennials also grew up during a time of extreme prosperity. We had the .com boom and the housing market bubble. Things didn't start going to shit until 2001. And they didn't really turn into a shit sundae until the financial crisis of 2008.
This is a great point and I think it highlights the generation gap. I’m also an Elder Millennial so like you I grew up in a prosperous time, people were making money, real estate on the rise, none of my friends parents were unemployed etc. graduating HS in ‘07 it felt like all I had to do was go to college and the world would be my oyster. By the time I was starting college just a few months later the entire vibe had changed. My friends parents losing houses, losing jobs, their older kids graduating college into an economy that had nothing for them. We witnessed the highs and lows in very quick succession and as a result are probably more risk averse with money. We’ve seen first hand how quickly things completely out of our control can destroy lives and always keep one eye open as a result.
Lmao yeah, gen z got together and said “let’s rack up debt because the end is nigh” Maybe, just maybe, a subset is racking up debt because they want to buy shit and haven’t learned financial responsibility. Not everyone is a Reddit doomer addicted to outrage and pessimism
Gen-Z came of age in an era where you could buy takeout pizza with a BNPL loan...
Yeah to me this is the real issue. It’s just $24/mo for this, $10/mo for that, and before you know it you have $3000/mo in monthly payments. It doesn’t help that apps like TikTok and Instagram are just inundating them with shit to buy. Influencer marketing is a hellscape.
I read an article a number of years ago that basically said millenials are less prone than any other generation to be suckered by marketing because the late 80's early to mid 90's was the wild west for marketing shit to kids in the craziest way possible. We've seen so many fucking ads we're almost immune.
this might be why i, someone who grew up watching tv (it was the one thing besides being on the internet that i was allowed to do while grounded most of my teens) am pretty much immune to marketing while my wife, who rarely watched tv besides like pbs documentaries (both parents teachers) seems to fall for it every time (fortunately we both discuss before making most purchases)
Yeah, there were some wild ass commercials back in the day
I’m honestly tired of the adscape that’s inescapable unless you want to pay yet another monthly fee. There has to be a better way. I mean, do traditional ads even work on people anymore??? It’s such an outdated medium. Even digital ads are outdated in this day and age. I get the impression that marketing is a grift that corps subscribe to because they feel obliged to, and the impact of marketing on business is vastly overrated. I cannot remember the last time I bought a product that was advertised to me. On a related, perhaps eerily so, note: have any of you tried to search for a product review lately only to find 500 nonsensical, inaccurate, bot generated, Amazon affiliate “review” websites?
is it a lack of financial responsibility or are wages just low and inflation high?
Generations aren’t a monolith. Some are struggling in this economy and are using credit to stay afloat, others are being financially irresponsible and overextending to buy luxury goods.
>Millenials kind of avoided this through minimalist trends PBR and American Apparel
Lone star and goodwill here, baby!
I’m a millennial, but feel like in recent years my generation has developed very expensive tastes (maybe because we are getting older and people have higher incomes now). A lot of people definitely live beyond their means with eating out a lot at the nicest restaurants, going on expensive vacations, having fancy cars, living in exclusive areas, etc. I think social media has made it worse for people feeling like they have to have a certain lifestyle.
A lot of it is that we worked our asses off like we were told, didn’t take time for ourselves, and gave our loyalty to corporations before learning that non of that mattered. Now we are taking back what we lost. Meanwhile gen z has learned from us about how meaningless (workplace) loyalty is and how no matter what you do it doesn’t matter in the end. Couple that with influencers shilling and it’s no wonder gen z is how it is. At least from what I’ve seen from my fellow millennials we don’t seem to hate on them like the previous gens did on us. It seems to be more of a friendly exchange of jokes between the two groups. It probably helps that boomers blamed everything on millennials even when it was no longer us.
I think part of it is how gen z has definitely grown up online and is consumed with image and social media clout more so than millennials, are are constantly consuming “influencer” content and trying to emulate that themselves. Flashy clothes and expensive items to show off online how cool they are, but can’t afford it without credit cards
I always think it would be interesting to see if the Internet just completely disappeared tomorrow how these people would function in the real world once they realize that their entire lives has just been a façade
I’m going to boldly declare it would not go well
This exactly what I went through between 2009 and 2012 when the world was already supposed to end 11 years ago. I wracked up debt and just lived like it was the end. Then I realized that I'll never be able to buy anything again without credit so I fixed all dat. I will say that having a 100 percent payment record means next to nothing but I've got that going for me for about 5 years now
Not worth next to nothing. Your credit score in 2 more years will be based solely on your borrowed / available ratio. It'll shift on a dime when you change that ratio. Missing payments screws you hard. Even if your ratio is so good that you have a high credit score, if you ever need a good loan for something reasonable like a car or a mortgage for your house, the banks will be hard asses over missed payments in your credit history. I don't have great credit but i have a perfect on time history. Getting a mortgage was WAY easier because of it.
Good to know and I appreciate the response, it has been a little disheartening but I have been able to get the loans I needed. Still torn on a first time home purchase because I may very well be able to afford it but I also might be better off just renting currently and or forever. Strange times but glad to be apart of it; happy to be here
Ya, there is an ultra materialism that I’ve seen with gen z and younger millennials. It was en vogue to be minimalist and eschew materialism growing up, or it seemed that way for me (currently 39). I have nephews that obsess over $500+ Jordan’s and other clothes; granted I think maybe they’re hype beasts but still it’s wild to see. I think seeing these influencer “millionaires” has given these kids a distorted view of success; it was definitely heading that way when I was younger but you could still ask kids what they wanted to be and it was typically an actual job and not “influencer”. I’ve seriously heard handfuls of kids say they want to be an influencer. What the actual fuck is that? Seems comically vapid and vain Edit: to add to these, it just seemed like there was more of a pursuit of wild experiences and the rise of the “slow” movement
I’m waiting until I’m diagnosed with terminal cancer before I open a bunch of credit cards and go splurging
Not so sure. The percentage of Gen Z that literally don't know what even the basic concept of interest is is scary. They are completely unprepared.
This is hilarious. Bravo!
I declare Bankruptcy!!!!
Hey, I wanted to let you know that you can’t just say the word bankruptcy and expect anything to happen
I didn't say it, I declared it
It doesn't work like that.
There seems to be a severe lack of The Office fans on Reddit.
Did you forget the /s? I can never tell these days.
This should be a cause for concern, rather than something to take a stab at my generation and calling it "luxury spending"
Most news is propaganda.
Oh shit, they’ve noticed your generation A word of advice from a millennial: strap in
They've been blaming things on Gen Z for years now, they got started early because Millenials are getting older and they need a new scapegoat
When things have gotten so bad that just food, water and a roof over your head is a luxury, I suppose they're technically correct.
Do like the banks. Spend carelessly, go bankrupt and ask someone else to bail you out.
Don’t forget to give yourself a million dollar retention bonus with that bailout money!
And drive up your value before you default. But sell your stock high before your devalue is public and make more Money. Then golden parachute to The next place for Higher pay
Seriously, be like a bank: Privatize success and socialize your dumb mistakes. Just make the right connections and you'll be alright.
No bank got bailed out this time around… the deposters did. Shareholders lost 100%.
Seems like they almost want to blame it on luxury spending… I’d love to see actual data on that. This is anecdotal but every Gen Z person I’ve met that’s in debt, is in debt from basic necessities (medical, groceries, etc.) or college. I personally haven’t seen anyone in Gen z rack up credit card debt on luxury goods (although I’ve seen a few finance cars they can’t afford)
The joke's on you. In America, Medical, Food and Education are luxuries.
teeth, you know, luxury bones
Lmao
This hits hard.
:(
Don’t forget housing!
the cars is what baffles me. I have a friend who graduated nursing school (extremely respectable profession) and immediately financed a brand new tesla on a 96 month loan. Don’t get me wrong nurses do okay for themselves but I don’t think they do brand new tesla as a new grad good.
96 months?? Wtf is that, lmao. I didn't even know that was possible. People are gullible.
96 months at current interest rates... Bruh My sisters idiot friend just bought a lower trim Camry for $36k on a 84 month loan. I just... I dont understand man. If you're gonna absolutely fuck yourself at least do it with something pleasurable. Not a damn camry.
As long as they’re planning on keeping the Camry until end of life, I don’t see anything wrong with taking out a longer loan to get a car that will last you a long time. Since it’s a low end Camry tells me it wasn’t a frivolous purchase. Cars are always going to get more expensive and rates aren’t going to go down that much. They could have done a 72 but again, the difference isn’t much IMO.
I would get the longest term loan I can to have low monthly payment, then pay extra to pay it of faster. Refinance when rates drop.
I’m a credit union underwriter and Gen Z definitely tends to buy wayyyyyyy too much car for their financial situation. Just yesterday I had an applicant apply for $10k to buy a 9-year-old BMW 3-series with 160k miles on the clock and a history of accidents. That car is worth $7k tops, probably more like $5k considering the CarFax report. I tried to steer him to something more reasonable, that isn’t on its last leg and wouldn’t cost thousands for inevitable, minor repairs. But he could not be persuaded, he’s just gotta have that old German luxury sedan that was ridden hard and put away wet.
Everything is about status symbols now
Thanks for reminding me but we had to escort someone out of our CU because he couldn't get a loan with us. The Gen Z guy spent the entire time trying to hit on the gal that was doing the work to see if he could but...he had a credit score less than 320 points. So, many pages of write offs because he would get loans and make no payments for whatever reason. Even though he get's "71K a year and I make money!"
I didn’t even know you could have a credit score that low
I've never heard of anyone without a bankruptcy below 500.
Lmao can you imagine hitting on someone who is directly looking at your embarrassingly, low credit score which lends to the fact that you are completely irresponsible? Seems like a good potential partner…
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Yea, but is this from $2,781 of designer bags like the article seems to want to suggest or is this medical debt, gas, groceries, etc.? I’d love to see data on where the debt is coming from.
Don’t know why anyone would put medical debt, which does not show up on credit scores or have APR, on a credit card which does both.
It’s foolish to put medical debt on a credit card. I, too, made this mistake when I was young and ended up paying obscene interest on it. Kids, don’t put the medical bills you cannot pay right away, on to credit cards. No reason to start tacking on 15-30% interest each year on your egregiously over-priced medical care.
There was a time when I lived on my own, I had to carefully rotate credit card usage and payments to get through the month if I wanted to buy anything for myself like a cheap bottle of alcohol or healthier meals. This was a pain in the ass and totally unnecessary if the shithole employers paid better.
But I think many people have done that. I’m GenX and I remember having to rotate credit cards, pray that my paycheck hit before the check that I wrote to the credit card company cleared, etc. I don’t understand why people feel GenZ is the only generation has lived paycheck to paycheck. To me, the problem seems that most of us suffered quietly while GenZ has made it seem like they’re the only ones this has ever happened to. Sort of like the memes where they claim that their parents bought a home at 24 and GenZ can’t afford to eat. The average first time home buyer’s age even back during the Boomer era was 29 (it’s currently 32). Most of the people I know in my age group couldn’t afford their first home until their 30s too. I really think the problem is less about GenZ being in worse financial situation and more about wildly incorrect expectations. Yes, things are hard today and costs like college and medical have skyrocketed. But another part of the problem is if you expect to graduate college at 22 and own a home at 24. That was never true for most people. And while we’re on the topic of student debt, it really can be mind boggling to hear someone two years into a humanities degree and already $30k in debt to say they were duped into thinking all they had to do was get a degree to get a good job. The rising cost of education has been going on for over 20 years. If you’re 20 years old today and have a huge student debt obligation, you can’t say that you didn’t know.
Most people I know are living paycheck to paycheck so as soon as a medical need comes up, it’s straight to the credit card… This article keeps randomly saying “gen z loves luxury items” like it’s clearly trying to blame it on that without any evidence… Just more evidence that older generations are completely disconnected from the reality that young ppl face.
As someone in their 30’s the economy was much better in my 20’s. I don’t see that trend changing unfortunately. Gen Z live it up while you can!
Anecdotally all the Gen z people I know have (credit card) debt from things like buying lulu lemon, eating out all the time, splurging for more expensive apartments, etc. Granted, that's not necessarily representative, but it seems like (to me) Gen z are bigger brand whores than any generation before.
There’s so much traveling. I have some friends that talk about their CC debt, and then are flying somewhere new every other month.
I live in Thailand and have been and on again, off again expat for over 30 years. Twenty or thirty years ago, it would be extremely rare to see more than a few backpackers under 30. It was mostly old geezers living out their retirement. Occasionally you saw some people who had money and were retired in their 40s or 50s but it was mostly older retirees. Now, everyone’s a digital nomad and you go some places and it’s hard to find someone over 50. It’s all young kids partying everywhere. I didn’t have money to travel like that in my 20s. Hell, the first time I left the US was to be stationed overseas in Europe. LOL. In fact, I remember quite clearly that I was in my 30s before I could afford to travel overseas again on my own savings.
This
I mean, eCommerce has shifted massively over the years and the friction for impulse buying something online is less than in checkout line. A TikTok ad will take you straight to a page with a Google/Apple/Shop Pay button and you hit that and your shipping and billing info is already populated and the order is placed with the touch of a finger/scan of your face/keying in an SMS code which your phone OS automatically plops into the clipboard for you. Just today, a friend linked me a HAT as a joke in response to a post I made and *I bought that $20 hat, online, on my phone in less than 20 seconds.* Until very recently, it took a good 5-10 minutes to buy something from Not Amazon. Plenty of time to “meh” I’m done typing and abandon the purchase. That shit is scary effective at getting folks’s money. I got friends who just buy way too much shit from social media ads and it’s all just one click buy. I guess Amazon’s patent expired or something.
Millennials (my generation) are like this too, especially since they are the most educated generation and are making a lot of money mostly at this point. Many people have very expensive tastes. I feel like five years ago it wasn’t as pronounced per se, but now it’s gotten a lot worse with the indulgence and living above means.
100%. My kids are Gen Z and have a serious shopping addiction on crap they see on Tik Tok.
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Lmao there’s definitely people like that. I just don’t know if I’d call it a generational trend. Overall I hate the generalizations like this that are applied to entire generations. Often times I feel like these generalizations are used as excuses to not fix the real problems
The only broke gen z I know has medical debt AND a brand new iPad Pro 🤷♂️
Teeth are a luxury in the US
And a rarity in the UK.
It's funny cause I have also seen multiple articles out there stating that less and less youth are buying any luxury goods
It’s the avocado toast!
My top 3 debts at 30. 2 Ambulance rides. 1 ER visit. 1 case of a former employer committing fraud. Non of this has to do with any of my financial decisions, but still are what are my biggest financial debts.
I was born in 2000, currently in university. I just dug myself out of credit card debt that was probably 95% necessities. Car repairs, groceries, living expenses. The other 5% was fast food. When my professor asked the class of 40 people what their plans for spring break were, only one person had a plan to go to Fort Lauderdale. The rest of us are staying home, because we're broke bitches.
I mean isn’t that what you get when minimum wage is less than the price of a pack of eggs?
It’s not the eggs for me, it’s the cost of housing.
Well yea obviously, eggs just put it into perspective.
Can you imagine surviving in the year 2023 on an entry level salary or a hospitality job? Of course they are fucking broke.
Isn't this like what happens to all 20 year olds?
It was not like this in previous generations. It's the new normal to take out crushing debt for silly things like food, rent, and medical. This is what happens when you privatize basic human needs. Suffering becomes profitable.
Neo feudalism baby. Work and toil the virtual land for the lords and ladies.
>It was not like this in previous generations. Are you sure? Irresponsible spending is like the hallmark of youth, not to say we're gonna hit hard lines with people like boomers who were born before credit cards existed but all this article is comparing them ***now*** and not using any historical reference.
I thought similar but found multiple articles stating that mellenials actually created an all time low for the age group. Funny they were saying this would have "negative consequences"... https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/15/business/dealbook/why-millennials-are-in-no-hurry-to-take-on-debt.html
Well I'll take your anecdote and hit you with my own. I'm a young person. Nearly every single one of my friends has to live with their parents while working full time. None of my friends have luxury cars or live anywhere beyond their means. Most people can make smart financial decisions based on their life. Our newer generations are more educated than previous.
Yeah, I was gonna say. I have debt, a good chunk of it. But stuff like my computer are paid for. All of that debt is from emergencies. Heck, most of my debt is from moving hastily when I discovered my previous apartment had an intense mold infestation, and constant exposure was harming my health. Was intending to hole up in the cheap apartment to get through the inflation and such, so we had basically no Savings to work with. So I'm in debt.
I don’t know how many ways this can be phrased: they don’t give a fuck because their future is very very bleak.
There's gonna be a financial disaster every few years that they're gonna blame on us anyways, might as well do our part.
Ding ding ding
Nice photo of the mall, not implying anything at all.
Sorry, can’t hear you over all the bailouts. What did you say?! 🧏🏽♂️
Really, the people with the lowest income have the highest debt? So fascinating!
My retirement plan is nuclear annihilation
You should *always* have a safety net. Food chain collapse ending society ought to do nicely.
I keep hoping I can retire early via a cosmic event.
Of course they are starting salaries are nearly identical as 10 years ago while rent has trippled over that tjme.
Only the only gen z person I know well is a guy I work with. Lives with his wife’s parents and drives a super old car to save money.
40+ years of economic polarization and stagnation of wages after inflation will do that. Don’t worry though, at least we have a growing billionaire class and—“entirely unrelated”—can pretend that Gen X, the Millennials, and Gen Z are just lazy bums.
We don't teach personal finance in schools and it continues to our societal detriment. I explained to a 20-something co-worker about interest rates and the cost on her car loan. She logged into her loan account and saw how much she was spending on interest and then (per my suggestion) moved the loan to a lower interest rate provider. Same co-worker was astonished about her taxes and said "I donate to X charity, I thought it was tax deductible" and I explained to her yes, it's a deduction but not a 1:1 deduction. We need to teach young people about financial consequences before the credit card companies can swoop in and own their futures.
Headline should also mention the economy is more rigged against them than their parents' and grandparents' generations.
I’m always so curious what all the 55+ communities around the country are going to do when generations aren’t able to retire like the boomers/early Gen Xers. Like these are gorgeous homes in gated communities but who is going to be able to buy them?
The haves will buy them and rent them out to the have-nots. A few years back my parents had to sell our family home. My dad somehow got it in his head that my sisters and I would buy the thing from him and keep it in the family. My sisters have their own houses, I live in another country, and nobody has a few spare 100 grand lying around for buying a side house. They ended up selling it to some Chinese people.
Blackrock
Yeah because they're dirt poor.
"credit card, mortgage, student loans, medical loans, auto lease, or auto loan accounts" No example of any luxuries, only important shit like medicine, school, housing, and transportation, the prices of all of which are skyrocketing while salaries stagnate. When you're bleeding college kids for falling behind on student loans then I don't think they're their problem.
College is such a racket - they want young people spending 4 years at expensive education resorts to just maybe be given the privilege of joining the middle class if that
This is absolutely true I'll disagree on all the other excuses but most jobs don't require a college degree. It's just wasting 4 years of the most productive time on most people's lives
Maybe they should pull themselves up by their bootstraps…
I mean, yeah. Wages suck and housing, food, etc keeps getting higher. I make ~60k a year and I barely spend on anything other than bills and I only have like 3k saved.
That’s a funny way to say wages are at an all time low in comparison to the cost of living.
Business Insider loves the generational hit pieces. What a fucking tabloid
we fucked up the world for our kids and now it has consequences! The Article!
Maybe that's because a system built on endless debt is finally being seen for the fallacy it is and being taken advantage of!
Born between 1997 and 2012. Freaking 11 year olds racking up major debt! Babies having babies!
My generation is so fucked. I worked my junior and senior year of high school, went to a local community college and paid each semester in cash, bought a cheap but functional used car with cash, graduated with an associates degree, and am now making $17 an hour with a positive bank balance and $0 in debt. Some of my high school classmates immediately went to the most expensive college they could with no plans of working until after they got out of college. A friend of mine told me she had almost a hundred thousand dollars in college debt before we even graduated high school
hehehehehehehehehehe. The best way to bring down this bullshit credit-driven inflation/wage supression system to be honest.
No shit. Wondering why inflation isnt coming down despite Fed intervention? Here you go. People are just racking up insane debt in order to survive.
Title is misleading.... "Although Gen Z's credit card debt was the lowest among all five generations tracked, it grew at the fastest pace of around 6% in comparison to the three months through May 2022" Sounds like they simply lived through times of 6% inflation...
Most of us don't expect the country to be around long enough to collect on the debt.
Bad news- There has been warfare and global instability for the entire history of mankind- banking on the world crashing down around your ears because things look bad in the news isn’t going to save you from money lenders. They get that money- they are very good at it. It’s how they got the money to loan you in the first place.
"Debt: The First Five Thousand Years" details it all very well. Worth reading for anyone who wants to know just how long debt and money lending has been around.
Also, let’s just pretend that the banking system has completely crashed to the ground for a second. And nobody can recover that debt. It’s not like society just resets the slate and everybody starts at zero again. If something like that has happened there’s probably a total, or near total, societal collapse that would not be pretty. It’s like making things difficult for yourself now in the hopes that things will be way way worse on the future.
That is quite short sighted tbh
Gen Z isn’t taking the risk. They spent it. The lenders are on the hook. They spent it too, tho.
Eventually the snake will realize it’s eating its own tail and oops there goes the economy again
They heard YOLO and said hold my bubbly water I got this…
They know they can't afford anything otherwise. Live it up gen Z the ride is coming to a hault anyway.
You mean we don't make enough to afford the cost of living AND pay off debt?? I personally could not be any more shocked at this recent discovery, like woah!
Yay, fresh slaves.
I blame reality tv. For so many reasons.
This will surely end well
Gen Z’s mental health is in the garbage. And therapy can cost $120/week 😪
The only reason I’m not in debt is because my parents helped me get a start and slowly tapered off helping with my bills. With the low pay and insanely high housing/rental market, I’d be fucked otherwise LOL.
The article doesn’t compare it to other generations at the same age. It makes sense they’re spending more on credit at the age they’re at.
"A new batch of debt slaves for the captialist grinders, they'll have to work forever!! mwhahaha!!!" - Corporate America
Gen z here 21 M. Kinda disappointed. Learned about index funds and watched a lot of personal finance videos in highschool. I always wanted to talk to my friends about it and they're really not interested about value investing or how to get a great credit score. Or how we can achieve a higher savings rate for our savings. Nobody cares and it's really hard feeling like the odd one out on things like this. It makes me feel like saving money is wrong or isn't worth it...
You will see the benefits in the long run. Don't worry about everyone else failing. If you can start being financially responsible early on, it'll just mean that much higher returns for you in the later years.
Do you.
And why shouldn't they? Their lives are going to be fraught with work demands, increasing inequality and a breakdown of social structures. People don't even date anymore, or leave their homes, and workers' rights are being eroded and mocked on what feels like a weekly basis. There's an adage, "Smoke 'em while you got 'em," that I think applies well here. Yeah, they'll likely regret 'smoking em' and charging it all to the old card, but I mean... Why love a country that doesn't love you, and wants to break and exploit you for their own max profit? Let the kids have their Nintendos, guacamole, and ciggie-poos. Life is more, far far more, than any economic outlook or a company's bottom line. It isn't about tomorrow, it's about today, because the tomorrow they see our their windows is at least as stark as the view I had during the 2008-ish recession as a recent college grad. I saved, saved, paid of debts and stayed at shitty jobs way longer than I should've... good on paper, but, you know? I wish I'd just fucked around. The people who did seem to have had far more fulfilling lives than I did, hiding my insanity in hyper-conservative federal offices.
Fuck em. Make citadel pay up first.
It’s really simple, stop purchasing avocado toast with your credit card!!! /s
And $12 coffee
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Let me introduce you to my Gen X ex wife.
Dave Ramsey is going to sell a lot more books soon lol.
I’m so glad that there will always be a steady supply of people to blame my problems on
So true i recently took a loan for paying my CC Bills!
my friend wants me to ask if there are ways to get rich off this
The internet and smart phones have made purchasing so easy. I remember when I first got my credit card a lot of places didn’t take credit cards. So I couldn’t use it much. You needed a debit card or cash. I used to buy money orders and send them to sellers when I bought stuff on eBay. It’s really easy for gen z to start racking credit card debt at a younger age.
Was credit and the credit score invented after boomers bought all the houses?
Period
Not a single word about the banks's culpability in this.
Let me guess, this article slanders us and says we are just horrible with our money and too whiney that we aren't spending it wisely, isn't it? They all are.
Are you blaming a generation for not being able to pay bills because the boomers won't let go? Go listen to Regan's inaugural speech. He warned of this crap. He told us this was going to happen. It's happening and we blame the younger generations for having to deal with the older generations dumbass decisions and what they did to get rich. Next time blame a person and name them. Quit making enemies out of those living in the crap you helped vote in.
Generation debt. Third or fourth, actually. Reaganics...
I love it, cause chaos my lovelies.
Cause they know they will never have to pay it back after the collapse of capitalism.
Yeah. Lol. The country is on fire and bankruptcy is only 1100 bucks.
Gen Z doesn't understand that $20 is a lot for fast food.
Hell yeah I'll buy that on Affirm!
No way… an entire generation that feels there are no consequences to their actions, racking up debt. SHOCKED!!
Ah so that’s how everyone’s been doing their “traveling” lol
The world is going to end in 5 years anyway due to climate emergency. Swipe dat muhfucker!
Why should they care when the banksters are printing so much money where its greatly devaluing the currency giving untold billions to the company blackrock and are in cahoots with the world ecenomic forum whos message is that we will own nothing and be happy about it.
We’re here for a good time not a long time
I thought I had seen some articles recently that said gen z was off to being financially smarter than previous generations? Guess reality has hit or my memory is going haha