What do you think about the spending habits of people in their twenties? Do you think they show off buying luxury goods or expensive electronic devices? Likewise, do you recall they impulsively spending too much money to relieve stress? These thoughts may be right or wrong.

To know their spending habits accurately, first of all, you need to know their “consumer confidence”. More closely, it means that you need to know what they put first when they buy or use something. ≪The Economist≫, a British economic weekly magazine, analyzed that millennials and Gen Z consumers show a clear difference from the previous generation. It diagnosed that young people are more pessimistic than previous generations due to the effects of two events; persistent global economic deterioration, and the COVID-19 pandemic. As they continued to experience international and unpredictable circumstances, they felt more distrust and uncertainty about the future. This causes the tendency to actively use current limited funds and resources to certain happiness in front of them.

However, not all young people fall apart overspending in the face of these instabilities. Moreover, spending on refreshments and their happiness does not necessarily lead to overspending. As evidenced by this, an anonymous college student A said that he often spends for the happiness of the moment, but only to the extent that there is no damage to his daily life. He added that when he consumes too much, he feels bad to see a greatly reduced balance, so the happiness from spending decreases.

It is also noteworthy that they each have objects that save money and objects that increase spending. Items that are frequently used in everyday life tend to consider cost-effectiveness a lot. They reduce their consumption from the least needed part of daily life when they have to save money. It is characteristic of young people who do not have assets like houses or cars of older generations. This is because these are very fixed in life and make it relatively difficult to spend freely because people have to pay a lot of money regularly. Is the spending habits of young people who can willingly control the balance of consumption to some extent really bad?

There is no absolute standard for “good spending habits.” The most important thing is the fact that everyone has to spend and save according to their abilities, which is true of all ages, not just of young people. As well, their bad-looking spending habits are in fact deeply related to social instability, so criticism and hasty generalization should be stopped.