Posted on 06/11/2017 12:58:55 PM PDT by Drew68
Millennials are threatening dozens of industries.
They don't buy napkins. They won't play golf. They aren't buying homes or cars. And they're not even eating at Buffalo Wild Wings.
Millennials' financial decisions have been heavily covered by media organizations — something that has infuriated many of the generation, as news that "millennials are killing" another industry has become a common headline.
"This is just some more millennial-blaming B.S.," one reader wrote in response to a recent Business Insider article with the headline "Millennials are killing chains like Buffalo Wild Wings and Applebee's."
When millennials decide en masse against purchasing certain items, from hot wings to homes, it has a measurable, negative impact: declining sales, layoffs, and, in some cases, bankruptcies.
Still, naysayers are right about something.
While millennials' preferences have had a destructive impact on several companies and industries, they had no say in creating the environment that has restricted their income and shaped their financial perspective. Instead, if we're looking for someone to blame, we can target the generation that created a perfect storm for molding a uniquely thrifty generation focused on short-term rewards: baby boomers.
During the recession, millennials were in their teens or graduating from college. In other words, as millennials came of age, they saw their parents' generation plunged into financial distress.
"I think we have got a very significant psychological scar from this great recession," Morgan Stanley analyst Kimberly Greenberger told Business Insider. "One in every five households at the time were severely negatively impacted by that event. And, if you think about the children in that house and how the length and depth of that recession really impacted people, I think you have an entire generation with permanently changed spending habits."
As a result, Greenberger says, millennials don't spend as freely as previous generations.
They'll avoid paying full price for clothing, something that is wreaking havoc on retailers like Macy's and Sears. They'll avoid investing in the stock market, having seen how investments can go wrong. If they're going to spend on a nice dinner, it is more likely to be at an independent restaurant that can provide a special experience than at the predictable Applebee's or Buffalo Wild Wings.
Reacting against boomers' financial decisions and spending habits is part of the puzzle in understanding why millennials are making choices that could kill companies that based their business on appealing to established trends. However, millennials' scars are not purely psychological.
Seven in 10 students graduate from college with student loan debt, owing an average of over $30,000, according to the Institute for College Access and Success — and that's ignoring the massive debt of students who took out loans but did not graduate. As student-loan debt has skyrocketed, income — both for graduates and millennials who haven't attended college — has failed to substantially increase.
With these economic burdens, it is difficult for millennials to save money. Thirty-one percent of "young millennials," ages 18 to 24, and 33% of "older millennials," ages 25 to 34, don't have any money in their savings account, according to GOBankingRates.
Debt and a lack of money in savings obviously make it harder to make major investments such as buying houses or cars. Couple this with a lack of trust in financial institutions (again, thanks to the recession) and you have a generation that is more likely to spend on experiences or something they can enjoy now, instead of saving up for an uncertain future.
As a result, when millennials splurge, it will be on something like avocado toast — a $10 treat instead of a multithousand-dollar investment that many lack both the money and the faith in the economy to make.
All of this is not to say millennials aren't killing certain industries. They are, as their preferences force companies to adapt or perish.
But when a headline says millennials are killing another industry, it is worth remembering who and what created a generation that has become an industry-murdering machine.
Yep, and nowadays etiquette is endangered, and people in high places have gotten blind to reality. It’s as saddening as it is scary.
They have to be one of the first generations of Americans to mutilate themselves in mass.
And have an attitude about it.
I don’t see that things are quite as bad as they were during the Carter years. The reverse problem seems to be true - lots of jobs out there, just no one qualified to fill those jobs - or able to pass a drug test, show up on time, have reliable transportation to work, etc.
We’ve allowed the Socialist Democrat Party and the COMPLICIT RINOs to create this current ‘utopia’ for us.
But then, I think about my Grandpa who had a wife, kid & FIL to support during the Great Depression. He took on any and ALL jobs he was offered - baker, swept streets, cut and delivered wood, farm work, butchering, collected trash, etc.
When things turned around he became a Machinist and it was all roses after that; he helped build parts of the bombs that ended WWII, and also parts of various space craft, back when NASA had a few nickles to rub together. :)
If he could survive and thrive through that, I’ve got NOTHING to whine about; though I still whine from time to time. ;)
“Red Guards!”
I was wondering about this. Will they lead the “Multi-Cultural Revolution?”
Flash forward three decades and I too have almost no savings. The last decade has been a financial disaster for me. I can't find steady work in my field. But I blame no one but myself for not saving more when I could have.
See, that’s the part I can’t figure out. They whine that the Boomers have made them such awful people, but then it turns out they are people who have continued to support their offspring up to the age of 30 and beyond.
If a restaurant is making bad tasting, over-priced food, they shouldn’t be trying to find fault with the customer for not wanting to buy it. The last time I had applebees (won a gc) they were microwaving their food packets even back then.
The article says boomers focused on short term rewards and Millies want to experience it now. I don’t see the difference.
I guess I’m a millennial then. I don’t buy most of those things either.
Except I do like nice linen napkins (not paper). And I already have a home.
I don’t buy much really... I have enough stuff. People who are older than millennials who have reached peak stuff have stopped buying a lot of things
I love me some Buffalo Wild Wings. I spent a couple evenings there with Chris Sabo from the Cincinnati Reds. We had a good time. He had about .01 percent Body fat, lol. My neighbor brought me some hot wings from Dayton, Ohio last weekend, the best I’ve ever eaten.
I was thinking that too. The chain restaurants are pretty sucky except Outback. Family owned greasy spoons rule.
Buffalo Wild Wings and Applebee’s are disgusting. I never eat there either. Most such food chains are repulsive and serve crap, like Olive Garden, which just microwaves frozen dinners.
Huh? Why would a 25-year old buy napkins, when mommy has them, and Chipotle and Starbucks let you take as many as you like for free?
The reason was so that the guarantee on the cooking vessels wouldn't be voided.
Penny-wise, pound-foolish, their patrons noticed, and became former patrons.
The chain has gone back to using salted water.
Once they made paper towels that you could separate in half, our home never bought napkins again.
They'll avoid paying full price for clothing, something that is wreaking havoc on retailers like Macy's and Sears.
Um...AMAZON.com....hello? Not just millennials!
They'll avoid investing in the stock market, having seen how investments can go wrong.
Um...stock market at all-time highs, clearly not missing millennial bucks.
Funny that, I ate at Longhorn in Dayton, Ohio once. The manager brought the steak out and showed it to me before it was cooked. I suddenly had about six people waiting on me. I started pounding longnecks in observance. I don’t know who they thought I was, I still appreciated the old school presentation. I haven’t seen that style since a young Marine in Memphis many years ago.
Yep. My cousins' kids are all Millennials and I can't stand a single one. ALL rabid liberals. ALL brainwashed against Trump, the Wall, Israel, capitalism, even America itself. And of course, ALL college educated.
what constitutes full price? there is no such retail condition
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