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.
Links and citations at the source.
I guess I’m a “Millennial,” in many ways.
Oh, come on. They’re buying porn, LOL!
It’s just another cycle. I’m at the tail-end of the Boomers (born, 1960) I came of age during the Carter Administration. My folks were paying 17% for a mortgage on our 3 bedroom, 1 bath house. There was hardly any gasoline to be found, and when you COULD get it, you had to wait in line! (Something Millennials would balk at, LOL!) The only jobs available were in Retail or Fast food. Construction and Manufacturing jobs were at an all-time low, much like today.
I joined the Army to get my education paid for as my folks couldn’t afford to send me to college - even WITH scholarships I had earned. (As things turned around, thanks to President Reagan, my folks COULD afford to send my younger sister to college...where she was brainwashed into becoming a Liberal. *Rolleyes*
Seriously, we are at the beginning of another cycle of PROSPERITY and President Trump is going to ride the wave, and the Millennials will be dragged along with us.
Keep the Faith, Baby! MAGA! :)
Worst economic conditions in my lifetime during Obama. Why is anyone surprised our economy is still cratering after 8 years?
I am the same age as you; I had to beg to get into a fast food restaurant after High School. The big three here, namely Xerox, Kodak and Bausch & Lomb were not hiring due to the lousy Carter economy and to a lesser extent affirmative action.
College was not an option to me at that time so I worked menial jobs until I got a decent job during the Reagan Administration.
Today’s kids don’t even want to work in fast food. Usually mom and dad are providing for them up until their late 20s if not beyond that.
People most likely can get porn for free, just like movies, bootlegging from the Internet.
Red Guards!
I'm a Gen-Xer but I work with a lot of younger Millennials. They laughed at me when I said I was going to rent a movie from RedBox. They pirate everything.
I had one of them show me how to do it. He led me to a website where, indeed, I could pirate movies for free if I don't mind watching them in crappy lo-def with Thai subtitles. No thanks. I'd rather pay $2 for blu-ray.
They don't mind though.
They're watching porn. I doubt they're buying it.
I understand the part about the economy, the government, and the financial industry (((The Fed))) have made it impossible to save. I do get that.
Millennials are absolutely the worst generation EVER. I can not stand to be in the presence of just one of them.
I’m not that old myself (46), and I thought my generation (Gen X) was pathetic when they were young, but these twentysomethings today are just awful people.
Probably not even visiting JOE AND MABEL’S COUNTRY BAR AND GRILL!
don’t forget malware from iffy torrents
They’re watching porn, among other things, but a la carte, largely from Youtube. They could care less about cable TV.
When I think this, I have to remind myself if the big giant shaft their Baby Boomer parents are giving them and then I understand why they act the way they do.
I doubt there's ever been a generation who has been more failed by their forebears than Millennials.
.....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.....
That is and always was a good idea!!!! It’s real populism in action!
Support local, independent restaurants, retail stores, manufacturers, artists, etc. etc.
I had one write the other day on Facebook about how the US stole California and the rest of the southwest from Mexico, and i thought he meant figuratively, and then I realized he literally believes we stole the Southwest from Mexico via conquest.
25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV. - See more at: http://rense.com/general32/americ.htm#sthash.nU9EvMaG.dpuf
I’m about the same age, born in 62, and I grew up in England. It was the same there, youth unemployment was around 30% and we didn’t turn the corner till about 1986.
You’re probably right. ‘Mom’ is paying for it, LOL!
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