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.
I won’t do it. I won’t pirate. I believe in compensating people for their effort.
little older than you, similar experience. I recall thinking when I got my first real job in 1982 - just give me 3 good years of economic growth, just 3 years.
More like 30 - we were so blessed and lucky
I just want ‘em all to get off my lawn.
What a bad decision on their part. I always salt my pasta water, it tastes bland if you don’t.
I see a lot of businesses making some pretty bad decisions lately. Big businesses that should know better. They should be offering products people want/need at affordable prices. Compete for our business and don’t think you are entitled to our money.
Thank Goodness.
Invest in bicycles, kleenex tissues, organic salad, grow op equipment and solar panels. We will have the sort of economy that high school teachers might design on an acid trip.
Millennials can be summed up as kids who had no parents, because they were daycare raised. They are economically and policy ignorant because things were always given to them and they never experienced loss due to bad decisions. They have no money, because they only have the skills to work retail and they are paying for $150,000 student loans.Because they are broke, they live with a sense of deprivation, which is why they are open to socialism,
Their parents, the baby boomers, are going to completely devastate their children economically because the baby boomers are afraid of Healthcare costs as they get older.
I don’t eat out much, and when I do, it’s usually at Denny’s.
I’m killing businesses, too, and I’m Gen X. WHERE’S MY CREDIT???
Isn't that where all the money goes?
Millennials are the worst educated generation since the Dark Ages, and the college "educated" are even worse.
Millenials have been deliberately indoctrinated with a liberal psychosis that will forever prevent them from becoming productive humans in a human civilization.
Of course, there is always the small percentage who can effectively resist the indoctrination, maybe 3%, or 5%. Lots of those were home-schooled and/or military.
Millennials don't look at a iPhone as something that cost $800. They look at it as a monthly charge for the whole package and they purchase as nice a handset as their budget allows. By the time it is paid off, it's outdated and broken so they get a new one.
And you can bet a nice smart phone gives them far more value that napkins, golf, diamonds or Appleby's.
Also, for many Millennials, their smart phone is their only computing device. I'm learning they do everything from their phone. They don't have laptops and desktops at home. They don't do email. And don't bother leaving a voicemail on their phone, if they've even set up a mailbox to do so. They find it very annoying. They already know they missed your call. Their phone tells them as much.
Blame their parents.
Of course, there is always the small percentage who can effectively resist the indoctrination, maybe 3%, or 5%. Lots of those were home-schooled and/or military.
Plenty of snowflakes were homeschooled. Plenty of snowflakes in the military as well. I work with them every day.
“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.”
As Ayn Rand said, parasites NEVER appreciate the charity they receive and eventually come to RESENT the provider for never giving freely enough and occasionally expecting a Thank You.
“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.”
As Ayn Rand said, parasites NEVER appreciate the charity they receive and eventually come to RESENT the provider for never giving freely enough and occasionally expecting a Thank You.
They probably don't even know anyone who would actually pay for porn. Well, maybe their clueless geezer dad.
google "free porn"
Philip Rearden, case in point.
They aren’t investing in homes, Wall Street or porsches...
Duh, they’re just dumb broke kids... what you expect?
Yes, 3% to 5%.
I’m old and we don’t buy napkins either. I thought that was what pick-a-size paper towels were for! Who knew!? Haha.
Me, too. I was last in an Applebees in 2003. I don't play golf. I spend much more money in local restaurants than in chains. I try to save money by shopping carefully online. I must be killing industries galore.
This is not a terrible article, but I could do without the misleading clickbait headline.
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