Bidennials

At one point earlier this week my wife and I met some friends for lunch. The food was good, but the price was … OMG! What had been a $13 sandwich the last time we were there, was now an $18+ sandwich, an approximately 40% increase! And what had been two sides included was now only one side included. Being a Baby-boomer we didn’t like the significant price increase, but we are able to afford it. What do Millennials (ages 28-43),or Generation Zers (ages 12-28) do when in a similar situation? Most likely they use their credit card, even though half of millennials and 32% of Gen Zers have more credit card debt than emergency savings.
Why use a credit card? … Because it’s easy and expedient.
Young Americans owe over $1 trillion in debt, with 70% of millennials living paycheck to paycheck. Now I suppose this can be blamed on their parents as one-quarter of Gen Zers and millennials report that their parents did not teach them how to build financial wealth. However, some of these parents are now making up for their presumed past deficiencies as, through 2023, about 45% of young adults aged 18 to 29 were living at home with their families, marking the highest rate since the 1940s.
Be that as it may, 88% of Americans say that high school did not adequately prepare them in terms of handling money in the real world. Ergo, even though there appears to be plenty of blame to go around, namely high school teachers and parents, my finger points directly at Joe Biden as his policies have caused the $13 sandwich to skyrocket to $18+.
As I have always had a bit of difficulty keeping millennials and Gen- Zers separate and straight, perhaps we should just combine the into one group … the Bidennials! Perhaps this will just another something for his legacy.
12/26/24