By: Jocelyn Schwalm
Millennials are a generation consumed by their passions, actively looking for fulfillment in their lives.
Defined as the cohort born between 1982-2004, millennials are the 20-somethings that are targeted as the key demographic for marketing agencies. Being raised into a culture that is set on turning likes into passions and passions into careers doesn’t always result in landing the jobs with the highest salaries, leaving millennials with the tough decision of where they should be investing their small amount of income.
Millennials have had it ingrained within them that experience is so much more valuable than any material item, so this often means that they are taking the money they have and turning it into something memorable. Recent studies have stated that there is a direct correlation between the amount of money spent on experiences and growing happiness. Millennials are now choosing wisely when using their hard earned cash to reap the rewards of experiences and it seems that the three most important worthwhile investments are food, wine and travel.
There has been a mindset shift within this generation that displays how little interest is placed within the security aspect of a lifestyle. Instead of buying a home or vehicle, most millennials have chosen more ephemeral ideals such as going to concerts, festivals, wineries, short-luxurious trips or simply dining at the new and cool restaurants. The new ideology focuses more on how you can use your money to serve you as opposed to you serving it. This need for experience is being driven by a fear of missing out, which has been found to be a present concern in 6o per cent of this cohort.
Festival tickets and food are among some of the top splurges. Festival culture seems to have been popularized over the past few years, marketed for its experiential value and restaurants are vehicles for social interaction to take place. Having the freedom to spend money on experiences as opposed to material items seems to have provided some sort of complacency within this generation. The more that the value of experience is understood, the more likely millennials are to continue investing their money in things which have objectively proven to have long-term value thus contributing to the “experience economy.”
The experience economy revolves around owning very little that would be financially burdensome. Millennials are pioneers of this mindset, as it was standard practice to get a steady life set up in early adulthood for the generations before. Experiences may come and go but the quality of life that they provide is a solid indicator that millennials are moving in the right direction.
