Hot on the heels of dropping the divorce rate and never having sex, The Federal Reserve decided to rain on the Millennial parade agsin — by informing us that we’re essentially just like our parents… only with less money. In a study on Millennial spending habits authored by Christopher Kurtz, Geng Li, and Daniel J. Vine, The Federal Reserve found that differences in spending between Millennials and older generations are not all that different. American’s consistently spend their wealth on cars, food, and housing, so whether you’re eating a good ol’ American burger from a drive-up diner with your retirement money, or ‘gramming your Shake Shack cheesy fries, you’re essentially just like the generations proceeding you.
The study implemented an analysis of spending, income, debt, net worth, and demographic factors among the different generations. “We find little evidence that millennial households have tastes and preferences for consumption that are lower than those of earlier generations,” claims the study, pointing out that while our money is going to the same place, Millennials have way less of it.
“Millennials are less well off than members of earlier generations when they were young, with lower earnings, fewer assets, and less wealth” the study concludes.
Kimberly Greenberger a Morgan Stanley analyst told Business Insider last year, “I think we have got a very significant psychological scar from this great recession…I think you have an entire generation with permanently changed spending habits.” But apparently simply because we’re all broke.
The biggest discrepancy the study found is that while Millennials do indeed spend less on housing and food, dictated by their lower income, than the generations that proceeded them, they’ve spent considerably more on education and have a higher percentage of Bachelor’s Degrees. The most educated generation is worse off? Welcome to America! Read the study in full here.
