Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/1196019
AACREDITUNION.ORG | 11 E very now and then a study of millennial spending habits reveals that those born between 1981 and 1996 have special ways of using their hard-earned cash. For instance, a 2019 survey by Barclays found the average 20- to 37-year-old spent the equivalent of $3,600 a year on takeout, restaurant meals, coffees, clothes and socializing. In 2016, the American Institute of CPAs reported nearly two-thirds of millennials said impulse buying was keeping them from saving money. That was despite the fact that a third of them put saving as their top goal for the year. Millennials value experiences more than objects and would rather start a new business than a new job. They distrust Wall Street and consider a company's social and environmental impact when deciding where to invest their money or who to work for. Considering that millennials are, as of 2019, the largest living American generation, these traits surely impact the rest of us. But what are those impacts? For one thing, how financial advice is dispensed, is one impact. Millennials dislike paying fees to investment advisors, whom they regard as looking out for their own interests rather than their clients, said Gui Costin, author of Millennials Are Not Aliens. Financial firms are beginning to offer more flat-fee advice options rather than commission- based pay models. "That's what they're most familiar with through the advents of Uber and Netflix," he explains. Millennials are also driving changes in how food is presented, prepared and sold. A study by real estate firm CBRE predicted grocers will devote more space to prepared foods and restaurants will emphasize lower-priced items as millennials dominate food and beverage spending over the next decade. Last but far from least, this generation prefers living in cities where costs are high. But they are also saddled with student loan debt. As a result, they're more likely to rent than own their home compared to previous generations. In 2018, the Urban Institute said 37 percent of millennials owned homes in 2015, about 8 percentage points below Gen X and Baby Boomers at the same age. With significant impacts on where we live, what we eat and how we handle money, millennials may be not just the largest, but also the most impactful generation of any era. And it could just be the beginning. Consulting firm PwC forecasts Baby Boomers will bequeath $30 trillion to millennial heirs. What they do with the windfall may affect not just the country, but the world. One thing's for sure: With Millennials pulling the purse strings, things won't be like they have been. "It comes down to this," Costin said. "Millennials and Baby Boomers are as different as rotary phones and text messages, and newspapers and podcasts."