Younger people driving less

[Taylor]

I read an article about this drivin less (and falling homeownership) among millenials and the article was titled "The Cheap Generation." My thought was, how about "the Smart Generation"?

[grantmeaname]

If you're referring to the article I linked ("the Cheapest Generation", so you might be), you had almost the same thought I did.

The author notes that millenials are spending just as much as before, but on different things. While smartphones were mentioned as the new status symbol instead of cars, they also noted that millenials are spending more on education, because it matters more to them. The entire point of YMOYL is that it's stupid to spend money on things that you don't value, and important to spend money on the things you do value, so that's great news! That's exactly what the YMOYL authors want! It's an attempt to receive value from things in proportion to the life force you put into them.

[galaxie]

My perception might be skewed, because I'm a semi-millenial (I'm 30) and I live in a city, but it seems to me that milennials value living in cities for a variety of reasons, and their car- and house-buying habits might be side effects of that.

[grantmeaname]

That's a good point I hadn't thought of. The author attributes all car-buying behavior to conscious decisions and doesn't consider other factors influencing it. Urbanism is one of those; I'd add mobility as another. There's little reason to buy a house in your early 20s if you expect to work in three or four different cities before you settle down.

[galaxie]

There's little reason to buy a house in your early 20s if you expect to work in three or four different cities before you settle down.

Definitely!  That is also a good point -- I bought a house, because there are several high-caliber places in this area that I would like to work at, and I don't think I would have to move in order to find another good job.  But I've got friends who think nothing of moving back and forth from one coast of the US to the other for their jobs from year to year.  As you might imagine, they don't have houses.