The Cost of Living

Younger generations should bear some responsibility

A recent CBS News news story claimed Americans need $11,400 more today than in January 2021 just to afford the basics. There is no doubt these are troubling economic times. Try as they might to spin the bad news, the political left and their friends in the national press are telling struggling Americans they don’t realize just how good they have it, or that inflation is their fault. However, the public knows better.

Sadly, the younger generations don’t envision that shining city on a hill. There are countless testimonials by young adults about how difficult it is to get ahead. Or just to make ends meet. No doubt, times are significantly tougher today than they were just 3-4 years ago. But one must acknowledge Millennials and Generation Z also have a skewed view of how and where they should spend their money.

When times are tough, one must be tight with their money. It’s that simple. Money should be reserved for necessities before any is spent on frivolous things.

There is an ocean of young adults asking how they will ever buy a home? It’s a very fair question. In the last several years, I’ve spoken with dozens of Millennials and Gen Z adults about their spending priorities and habits. What they told me was eye-opening.

Their first step must be to fully come to grips what is a necessity and what’s not.

Necessities are a place to live, food, utilities (including mobile phone service), healthcare, functional clothing, transportation. Everything else is a luxury. That was true when I was in my twenties and it is still true today.

Necessities are not video and music streaming services, dining out, home meal delivery, bar-hopping, entertainment excursions, weekend mini-vacations, designer shoes and clothing, an expensive car, ride-share services when public transportation is available, or impulse purchases.

I know of one adult in her late 20s who works in a restaurant. When she gets home she orders Grub Hub, Uber Eats or Door Dash nearly every night. And she claims she is always broke. How does she think this is logical?

No one, absolutely no one, “must” drop hundreds of dollars on tickets and souvenirs for a Taylor Swift or other concert. Buying or leasing a car costing $45,000 is absurd. Lululemon and Bebe should not be a shopping destination on a fixed budget. I could go on.

Still, they are correct that we live in challenging economic times. The encouraging news is some Gen Z now realize they must perform some belt-tightening, according to a recent Bank of America survey.

Among the complaints from today’s young adults is previous generations had it so much easier. True, school loan debt is a significant problem today. College costs is a topic for another column, but it’s worth mentioning too many families are willing to assume ridiculous amounts of debt to attend the “right” (and more expensive) school instead of attending a much more affordable school. There is no shame in attending community college before transitioning to a four-year college.

Nonetheless, older generations didn’t face the same economic challenges they are currently facing, they claim. However, this grass is greener mindset regarding earlier days is flat-out wrong.

I will illustrate my point with facts and data. I was in a similar position four decades ago as a young Navy officer in San Diego. Money was tight. Very tight.

Usually, an individual’s biggest personal expense is housing. Many of my peers were content being renters and avoiding the hassle of home ownership. As a result, they had more disposable income than did I. My wife and I made home ownership a top priority. That meant there were trade-offs. When we became homeowners we also became house poor.

At 26 years of age I earned $27,023. That was for a family of three. We bought our first home for $82,400 with a 14% interest rate VA mortgage. This was 1984 and the nation had not yet emerged from the oppressive Jimmy Carter economy.

We owned one car, a 1980 burgundy Toyota Tercel. It was a 4-door sedan with a 4-speed manual shift and vinyl interior. It didn’t have any options. The AM-FM radio did not have a cassette player. My wife drove the car and I walked a half-mile to and from the trolley station each day.

My lunch was usually a PB&J sandwich, an apple and Fig Newtons (yes, I actually like them). We clipped coupons and bought generic or store brands at the supermarket or from the commissary. We grocery shopped with an established budget for each trip and we used a calculator to keep track of our totals. We never ate out. A take-home pizza was a rarity. We had one indulgence: McDonald’s sold a soft-serve ice cream cone for 25 cents. Sometimes we’d get that for our son. Nothing for us.

To be fair, my healthcare costs were zero. Free military healthcare was a trade-off for service to the nation. But back then, young adults could not remain on a parent’s health insurance until age 26, as they can today.

Our biggest splurge was the night we hired a baby-sitter to see a movie. Tuesdays were dollar night at a local cinema. We bought no drinks or snacks. One movie night in two years was all our budget could afford.

We had one TV with no cable service. We had just replaced an old black & white TV with a broken speaker. Audio cassettes were becoming mainstream but they were not in our family budget. Instead, we listened to FM radio.

We didn’t buy books. We checked them out from the library. And tried to return them on time so we weren’t fined.

On weekends, we went to the nearby municipal park. When it was warm we went to any beach wherever we could park for free.

For lawn care, I had a rake and bought a used two-wheeled push lawn mower at a yard sale for $5.

On board my ship, it was mutually decided in the wardroom (the ship’s officer corps) that everyone would get a blue blazer and khaki slacks if we needed to wear business attire while on shore leave overseas. I couldn’t afford a new blazer. I had earlier purchased a used tweed jacket at a St. Vincent de Paul store.

Aside from my uniform shoes, I had a pair of penny loafers, very worn-out Sebago deck shoes, Reebok sneakers, and flip-flops. The rest of my wardrobe was a couple pairs of jeans, t-shirts, a couple of Izod golf shirts (it was the fad back then), and, yes, a Members Only jacket (also a fad).

In conversations, I’ve had young adults tell me my spending habits were “quaint” and “old fashioned.” Perhaps. But they were also responsible. And that is what much of this comes down to when economic times are challenging: responsibility.

Yes, times are tough. (Remember this on the first Tuesday in November in even-numbered years.) But staying within a budget can be done if responsible decisions are made on how and where to spend money. And perhaps buying a home is not really out of the question if one knows how to properly manage their money and temper their expectations with what they can afford.

Mark Hyman is an Emmy award-winning investigative journalist. Follow him on Twitter (X), Threads, Gettr, Post, and Mastodon.world at @markhyman, and on Truth Social at @markhyman81.

His books Washington Babylon: From George Washington to Donald Trump, Scandals That Rocked the Nation and Pardongate: How Bill and Hillary Clinton and their Brothers Profited from Pardons are on sale now (here and here).