Every generation at least has something which they consider theirs uniquely. This is one thing that defines them. Be it the height of technological advancement which blew everyone’s mind or the marquee historical events or the economic shape which described how they would turn out, or even that natural happening which happened against anybody’s expectation.
With the discovery of the internet and have put up all infrastructures to ensure a digital market is created so that one can advertise, get a client, close a deal and get the payment online, it has become increasingly easy for people to spend. Unlike earlier on in the day, the digital age has primarily been attributed to higher spending. However, this isn’t the case. From an annual consumer survey, generation X individuals averaged a higher income as well as the most top spenders of the four generations.
Generational overview
There are four generations. Gen X is usually overlooked when debating about the various factors which distinguish these generations. This one consists of individuals who were born between the years of 1965 – 1980. It is the smallest group of the population. Maybe that’s why it is often overlooked.
On the other hand, we have the generation Z, which has a group of people born post-1996. They are the digital natives since they were born in the digital world. They have never known a world without all these techs, including mobile phones.
Nevertheless, there are these generation Y’s who are widely regarded as millennials and being daring, explorative, and adventurous. This group was born between the years of 1981 – 1996. Studies reveal that this group carries the most significant population density. This may be the reason they are often put to scale against other generations. Then finally, there are the Baby Boomers. This group consists of those people who were born and raised before 1980. They are always called the old folks. This sect enjoyed life in its raw form; that is, they had to contend with life without many inventions.
This article tries to compare which one of the generations was a frivolous spender, and which one saved most. Assuming if they did not spend, they either kept or invested.
Generational spending
Some spending areas are discussed below and comparisons made between generations in this area.
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Food
Here, food is broken into two. That which is served at home and that which is served away from home. However, general expenditures on food favored the millennials. They were reported to put away 13.5% of their income on food compared to 12.9% spent for Gen Xers. But because of the substantial disposable income, the Gen Xers were reported to hold the button for the annual spending; they cashed out $9,400 on food. Baby boomers came next with $7800 worth of food expenditure. Millennials spent slightly less than the boomers and were at $6900.
Millennials still held the most expenditure card for food consumed away from home. They dedicated 6.3% of the total expenditure on food outside the house. Gen Xers took away 5.8%, and then the Baby Bloomers got a 5.6%. In terms of dollars, Gen Xers still lead the way by dishing out close to $4200 on average on food out of the house. Baby Boomers spent an average of $3200 and Millenials at $3100, followed closely.
In general, as much as the millennials are willing to set apart a more significant percentage of their income on food, they do not have too much spending power as compared to the Gen Xers and the Baby boomers. Due to more disposable income in their position, these earlier folks spend more on food than the millennials. Therefore, the Gen Xers were found to be the most significant average spenders on food.
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Housing
This category was taken to involve all shelters, including but not limited to dwellings, commercial and leased properties, utilities, and furnishings. Overall figures indicated that the Baby Boomers budget a whopping 48.3% on housing, followed by millennials at 35% and the Gen Xers. But again, due to the superior income, generation X individuals topped with spending averagely 23,700 annually on housing.
For rent, Baby Boomers reported to spend the highest; then, the Gen Xers spent the least. Cellphone spending was the other way, led by Gen X.
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Transportation
Overall statistics indicated that millennials were the highest spenders in this category based on the percentage expenditure estimates. They averaged 16.8% of their total spending. Gen Xers came after a slight difference of just 0.7%. The Baby Boomers averaged 15.9%. By comparing the means of transport used by these three groups, all of them set 1.2% of the spending on traveling by public means. However, when compared to dollar spending, Gen Xers still edged out the rest due to their purchasing power. They were reported to spend an average of $5100 compared to $3800 spent by the millennials.
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Clothing
Millennials devoted the largest share of their spending on apparel. As the age increases, expenditure on clothing slightly drops; this phenomenon is what inspires the above assertion. But when dollar comparisons are made, again millennials appear second after the generation X individuals. The same trend is seen with footwear.
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Entertainment
The numbers in this category favor the Gen Xers and the Baby Boomers in that order. Both percentage allocations and actual dollar purchase. The difference is, however, stretched because of the digital age they lived. Used to pay for subscriptions, for instance, cable. Hence, they ended up spending more on their entertainment than any other generation.
Since this category also consists of vacations and hobbies, it is essential to point out that millennials would spend less. Since they struggle to save for such occasions unless they were to borrow cash for conventional lenders and compare each other’s rate by checking LoanAdvisor.sg and have adopted stringent measures to lock them out.
From the few comparison fields presented in the argument above, the earlier assertion that Generation Xers are the largest spenders and by far has been supported and proven. The reason for this trend is the income available for spending, which is more than all other generations. If the income distribution were to balance, then millennials would take the largest share of expenditure.
