WHAT. A. DOWNER. I was really hoping that the answer to the title question would be a resounding "Yes!" and like a GIF of Christian Bales from The Newsies clicking his heels, but as it turns out, us millennials are in for a rough ride. I suppose that initial reaction is just another indicator that I am living up to my trophy generation roots. Reading this article was kind of like reading your horoscope and extrapolating what you want. Like this bit on spending habits:
The millennials’ relationship with money seems quite simple. They do not have a lot of it, and what they do have, they seem reluctant to spend. Millennials are buying fewer cars and houses, and despite their immersion in consumer culture, particularly electronics, they are not really spending beyond their limited means. Their credit-card debt has declined, most likely because many millennials cannot get a credit card, and in part because they know they cannot afford to spend now and pay back later. “They have this risk aversion that we’ve seen with millennials since they were teenagers,” Howe said. “It’s declining alcohol use, declining drug use. I mean, declining sex.”I thought, "YES! All of this yes!" I just got my first credit card and every time I use it, I get an upset stomach. Yet despite our stinginess, we are the generation that is most associated with materialism. While our baby-boomer predecessors used words like "work ethic" to describe what makes them unique, millennials responded with "clothes," which I actually LOL'ed at. So we want all the things, but aren't willing to shell out for it leaving us... perpetually frustrated?
And it gets worse. Bring your umbrellas, millennials because economists are forecasting a chance of poor for the rest of your life.
The millennials, in other polls, remain optimistic about their futures. Economists are less so. There is a persistent fear that they have entered a permanently lower earnings and savings trajectory. Even if the generation recovers, even if it ends up wealthier than the one before it, the scars will be deep and long-lasting. Kahn has started comparing recent graduates during the recent recession with recent graduates in the 1981-82 recession. She said the initial wage losses were comparable, and the trend looks set to repeat. “My inclination is pessimism,” Kahn said. “If anything, these guys might experience something worse.”I wonder though if being optimistic in the face of our bleak future isn't a characteristic of millennials but a characteristic of just being young. I say this as a self-proclaimed pessimist who is optimistic about my future. Isn't every generation of young people optimistic because of the sheer amount of time we have to worry about things that economists worry about? Leave being jaded, inflexible and senile for the old folks. Maybe that's a very simplistic way of looking at it but hey, my teachers always told me that I could say whatever I want to say so STEP OFF.
Even though I am worried about a shocking number of things on a day to day basis, I have a suspicion that things will be just fine for us millennials. We're the best-educated generation even though it may not seem like that sometimes when our youths are doing this. With our fancy pants college degrees and internet learnings maybe we can forge our own paths, different from the Norman Rockwell paintings of yore, though Neil Howe, author of Generations, contends that "millennials have a very conventional notion of the American dream — a spouse, a house, a kid — but it is not going to be easy for them to get those things.” So maybe we don't get all the things. Maybe we adapt or-and don't get upset by this word- settle for most of the things. But don't worry, moms of the world. We'll pay for the clothes ourselves. You know, the really important stuff. On a completely unrelated note, can we crash on the couch for like ever?