Not exactly being an avid shopper, I tend to sweep the duty of budgeting and financial planning under the rug. My husband and I save a healthy 10% or so of our gross income and put the rest into investments.
The investment part, by the way, is thanks to the husband’s brilliant knowledge of investing and interest in stock market trends.
The reason we do this is because both of our sets of parents have either been great savers or intelligent investors, which taught us to put aside money for rainy days (or unplanned career changes), and create financial growth that would spur from elsewhere other than our jobs.
Additionally, we made it a point to adapt our lifestyles to live under ONE income rather than two, allowing us to save money with the second income.
The reason I talk about this is because, based on the wide assumption that us Millennials are lazy, lack dedication, whine, and don’t have a long-term view of things, I thought we were a rarity among our generation. And this is true for a lot of people under 35, unfortunately.
According to a 2014 WSJ article, Millennials are at a -2% deficit, plunging deeper into financial debt. Now, compare that with a positive savings rate of about 3% for those age 35 to 44, 6% for those 45 to 54, and 13% for those 55 and older. To their credit, Millennials also racked up one of the highest educational bills we’ve seen in history, leaving them in debt with no room for investing.
This could very well be the result of many Millennials choosing highly expensive schools... and graduating in poorly paying areas of studies.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/savings-turn-negative-for-younger-generation-1415572405
To my fellow Tumblr’s, a tip on how to position yourself for a saving future:
Get rid of as much of your debt as soon as possible (excluding home mortgage). Eat at home, live at home, don’t go to overpriced educational institutions and choose a poorly paying major. Instead, choose a major that you feel you’re good at, and pick a passion to follow on the side. If you want to learn more about gender studies, the internet is actually a much less bias place to do that.
The sooner you get rid of your debt, the sooner you can start a decent savings account. The sooner you have enough savings for 6 months without work, the sooner you can start investing (bit by bit) into a new income source.
