“… A group totaling 92 million Americans, Millennials differ from Generation Xers and Baby Boomers in many ways — including when they plan to get married, their financial situation and how they consume media.” …
Seems accurate for myself and most of those I know.
Seems accurate to me too…except for the car part. That only applies to those living in urban areas with great public transport. And that isn’t everywhere.
I don’t understand the polling circumstances. Where the same poll questions posed to genXers & boomers in the 1980’s & 1950’s while they were still in their 20’s? Or were the questions posed to them all today?
Because, well duh, at the same snaphot today 20 year olds, their parents, their grandparents will obviously have different priorities. But the 20 year olds will eventually “turn into their parents”.
I, for one, am happy if Millenials are more mindful of fitness and focus less about consumerism. But regional variation is too great for these trends to have even impact. Goldman is trying to gauge and sell market trends.
I am not sure fewer car ownership is a trend or an impact of 2008. The same about living with parents.
I would love to get rid of my big house as well as the cars and live in an apartment where I could walk/take public transportation. Rarely watch TV, but like social media. Am currently more interested in buying yoga clothes, but not a designer bag.
I am a soon to be 58 yo baby boomer.
I’m 56 and have never felt in any way connected to the baby boomer generation, which I am at the young end of. Not in life experiences and not in personal preferences. so I always take these generational generalizations with a grain of salt.
I see those trends in my kids and their friends, except for the car. In my area, they all want, and have, a car.
But yes, televisions are on the way out.
I wonder the same… At this point a television seems like an archaic technology. The idea that someone would buy a TV today seems a bit weird to me. Whether the person buying it was 60 or 20.
I don’t know about your generation. I feel that most of my generation do not like to drive, and only do so because we need to get somewhere. I get the impression that your generation might have liked driving for the sake of driving more but I don’t know.
I am really confused about the polling for this. One problem with this survey is the years it spands. It includes people who are currently between 14 and 35 years of age, i.e., born between1980 and 2000.
I’m not surprised that there are a lot of 14 year olds who don’t care one way or the other about buying a house. The survey says that buying a house is “very important” to 40% of this group. Could this be the majority of those 30 and over?
I’m also not surprised they don’t plan to buy a car soon.
Am I missing something?
^Exactly. When my D was 25, she was not interested in buying a house. But now, at 32, she has one. S didn’t need a car five years ago, now at 29, he’s thrilled with his new one.
Excellent point. Ten years ago I wasn’t having daily conversations with my peers about my ailing parents or about what to do after retirement.
As for a tv, no, my college son doesn’t have one but his computer monitors are larger than one of our tv’s and he has no room for one. My other two kids in their late twenties, do have tv’s. None are remotely interested in expensive “athletic equipment”, but they sure do like their tech gear and they will spend on that. I’m surprised travel wasn’t mentioned. That’s another high priority for my kids and some of their friends. All live in urban areas and have no interest in cars.
Yes, it’s a crucial point. Lumping 14 years olds with over 30 doesn’t make sense. My D wasn’t interested in cars until she was looking into grad school and leaving dorms.
Having a TV matters to my millennial sons (mid to late 20’s), not so much for watching TV shows, but for watching sports. Watching on the computer just doesn’t cut it. OTOH, they’re both on their computers while they watch TV.
Having a car didn’t matter to S1 while he lived in Boston, but it does now when he lives in CA where a car is a necessity. S2 lives in DC, doesn’t have a car and doesn’t want one.
My offspring are 28 and 25. Neither has ever owned a car, which is beyond my comprehension.
A carless lifestyle sort of makes sense for the one who has lived in major cities since college, but the other one has spent most of his time living in suburbs. Still, it seems that a combination of walking, biking, Zipcar, Uber, trains, and the occasional taxi meet his needs.
I don’t get it. I think I would rather have a limb amputated than give up my car.
My D would like a car for trips to wilderness. Zipcar gets expensive.
My S has had a car at school for his three years. He wants to get a job in a city where he doesn’t need a car.
Having a TV isn’t important to him either.
My unscientific study consists of watching Millenials on House Hunters, where it seems that married/committed males are still VERY attached to not only having a TV, but having a very large TV. One hears the term “man cave” pretty often on this show.
D2 lives by herself in a small cottage in her college town, and her house seems to be the “gathering place” for her crowd, partially because she has a nice grill for barbecues, and because she has a fairly large HD TV for everyone to watch sports and Netflix on.
TVs will make a comeback when more of these millienials are married and want to watch movies, sports, etc. together.