Me and mine - the new generation?

[Corsa]

Hi All

I came across this interesting article today about the "Me" generation (18's to 30's) about their various trends and social values.

The key photos displayed two girls shopping in Rundle Mall yesterday "Clothes are our major expense. I'm not looking to buy a house right now - paying off my credit card is on the agenda first"...."I spend a lot of money on clothes, shoes, going out and dinner....I plan to wait until marriage to buy a house"

I have found in my own investing that my tenants fall into two distinct categories. Single men from broken marriages or DINKS/SINKS with money to burn.

For the "Me" generation that dont live at home, I think for a long time to come there will be a demand for rental accommodation for this finicky group having the effect of driving up rentals and ensuring limited vacancies.

What do others think?

Cheers

Corsa


Summary of article

1. No mortgage, no partner, no children
2. Living with parents
3. Fashion conscious, assertive, educated, interested in the world and ambititious
4. Materialisim - mobile phones, Ipods, Internet
5. Aspire to have designer clothes, be famous, shop at prestige stores, have a university degree
6. For leisure, they go to concernts, pubs and clubs, go for a drive, listen to music or go on the internet
7. Deferred committments
   Source - AustraliaScan, Quantum Market Research

Full Article: The Advertise, February 3, 2005

People aged under 30 who live with parents are well-educated and spend most of their income on themselves and are emerging as the dominant generation, a leading social researcher says.

Reveealing the recent trends in social values yesterday, AustraliaSCAN director David Chalke said the nation was undegoing a significant generational change that had created a period of "adultescence"

Defined as 18-30's, Mr Chalke said the adultescent generation was "uncommitted", with many yet to reach the milestones of a mortage, a partner or a child.

They will be a huge force in the future but we are already starting to feel it now" Mr Chalke said in Adelaide.

You only have to speak to HR managers about the problems with retaining bright young graduates these days. They are very focused on money and no particularly intererest in career paths and development. They are likely to up sticks and run if you dont meet there needs.

He said the new generation was quite likely (61%) to be living with ther parents and did not aspire to marriage. "They are self absorbed and they do put self above others" he said. They dont want a mortgage, marriage or children straight up - or they dont want them at all.

"They dont want to stick in a job they dont like just so they can pay the mortgage.

And there is a lack of desirability for marriage. They can get companionship wtihout marriage and think it is only going to fall apart anyway, as it did with their parents".

He said they described themselves as fasion-conscious, educated and ambitious - but the steriotype of the hard-working Aussie battle did not apply to this generation.

He said their aspirations were more materialistic, such as wearing designer clothes, being famour or having a university degree or being recognised as experts in their field.

Mr Chalke said the adultescent generation was more mobile and more likely to travel, raising the risk of a "brain drain" from smaller states such as South Australia.

 

[Simon]

Sounds like my two daughters.

They are just 8 and 10 though

 

[quoll]

Corsa

At least that should produce people to live in all those inter city apartments.

Due to my IP's being in outer suburbs and mining towns, I don't attract that tenant. But I'll keep it in mind, could be some good buys soon in the inner / near city area.

cheers
quoll

 

[MichaelW]

Quoll,

Good point, and sort of where my thinking was heading after reading that post. If they're not getting married but are focussed on image and spending big, then maybe the IPs we buy should not be the big family houses in the 'burbs but be more geared to singles. Townhouses or even apartments in the prime addresses might fit the bill for this demographic.

Worth throwing in to the mix of accumulated knowledge anyway.

Cheers,
Michael.

 

[quiggles]

Of course the bad news for we, the self designated sef-funded retirees-to-be will be how we are expected (at age 80) to pay the extra tax to support these jokers when they retire at age 60, without a bean to their names.

(But some really nice 2005 designer clothes).

I think it was Jim Rohn who said "You've either got to be good at sowing in the spring or begging in the fall".

My lad can't wait to get his first property.

 

[beeroll]

Along with the trend of retiring baby boomers to downsize, typically closer to town, and immigrants to live in lower cost rented acccommodation (though not necessarily in the inner city), there are some strong trends away from the big family home, although you'd never know it driving through Kellyville. It should go some way to addressing the current oversupply down the track.

Doesn't necessarily mean you should invest in inner city apartments, though, you can also think about smaller terraces that can be renovated into low-maintenance lifestyle homes, townhouses, etc. People who have lived their whole lives in large and relatively private accommodation might be more inclined to move into a small house than an apartment looking into (and being looked into by) ten other apartments.

You also get a much higher land component that way, in case you're thinking along Steve Navra style lines...

B.

Quoll,

Good point, and sort of where my thinking was heading after reading that post. If they're not getting married but are focussed on image and spending big, then maybe the IPs we buy should not be the big family houses in the 'burbs but be more geared to singles. Townhouses or even apartments in the prime addresses might fit the bill for this demographic.

Worth throwing in to the mix of accumulated knowledge anyway.

 

[Punchy]

Me and Mine?

Hate to break it to you but this is a baby boomer's attempt to flick responsibility onto their kids *again*.

Let's see..... who were Gen-x's role models? Boomers!!! What are boomers teaching us? How to look out for number one. To late to start preaching civiv duty. Far Far to late to talk about looking after senior citizens... we saw how Nana died alone in a Nursing home. No need to get upset because the pupil is surpasing the master.

"Lest we forget, rebellious boomers launched the drug culture, free love and personal irresponsibility that have become corrosive plagues on society. Those who drove our nation into this unconscionable quagmire know who they are and they certainly aren't the best of us. Alas, the 'Me' generation are in charge of things now. They betrayed democracy and the meaning of America and replaced it with cultures of animosity, selfish interests, victims, government dependants and entitlements. Indeed, it's certainly going get tougher on everyone else when the largest block of voters want more of everything for themselves, and the AARP becomes the most powerful organization in the country. Question is, can society survive the crippling effects of what has undoubtedly become the worst generation?"

http://www.realdemocracy.com/boomers.htm


When you talk about gen-x do your parents/ grandparents words ring in your ears? When did you get old?

 

[quiggles]

I think you're wrong, Punchy.

Why? Boomers are the first generation to really start saving for retirement, through super, RE, shares and investing. So why are they going to be such a drag on the economy (and they are) - because they are following their parent's advice, an unstated part of which was retire at 65 and die at 68. So their savings and plans are inadequate.

Why have boomers lost faith with lifetime employment? They didn't, they were downsized, outsourced, rightsized, rationalised and fired. Is this Me-gen/X gen's fault? Nope.

But is this 'flicking responsibility' onto the young - again, nope. If the young are satisfied to sit around spending their own retirement funds before they have gotten them, putting themselves up to the eyeballs in debt to go clubbing and surviving by staying at home with Mum and Dad, who cares?

I do, because I'll be paying taxes to support the little [insert plural noun of choice] when we are both retired.

 

[Aceyducey]

Those youth of today - they're the worst generation ever!!!


A generation, numbering in the millions, has gone so far in decay that it acts without thought of social responsibility!

High school kids are armed, out for what they can get... The Lost Generation is even now rotting before our eyes.

Day by day the newspapers report one grave crime after another, one moral delinquency after another, and one dereliction of duty after another.

Teenagers are confused, disillusioned and disenchanted, in a state rapidly approaching psychosis.



BTW - those are NOT my words, they are the words of some of the world's leading thinkers....in the 1930s.

http://home.earthlink.net/~mmales/greatgen.html

Cheers,

Aceyducey

 

[quiggles]

And if someone looks it up (I'm too lazy) I read a piece about the degenerate yourth of today written in ancient Greece. Homer used to sing about today's smaller men, and their dimished strength compared to the heroes 'of old'.

 

[likewow]

Punchy,

The important point ignored in your post is that the boomers created a lot of change when they were younger through protest, civil disobedience, free love, yada yada......because they were disenchanted by the world handed to them by the eprevious generation(s).

Now instead of bitching about the previous generation (boomers) why dont gen Xers or Yers get of their butt and protest or do something proactive to create change just as the bommers did at the same age.

If this Liberal government had been in power in the 60s-70s there would have been protests at unis all over Australia and street rallys in every major cities.

The Vietnam war created huge youth protests and rallies all over the world with riots but was a major part of the catilyst for change and reform.

These days gen Y & Xers are too busy complaining about boomers and concerned with their comfy material lives and credit cards to worry about generational change, unless someone else wants to change it for them.

And before someone thinks im a boomer, im not. Im 40 (tail end of GenX) but i remember my older brothers and sisters as part of the 60/70s protest scene.

 

[Aceyducey]

Likewow,

So you're sore because younger people aren't like you?

Perhaps they've found a better approach than free love & weed.

They can't do worst than the baby boomers did - the boomers certainly have always talked big about their protests & sexual freedom - but materially more people live in poverty, there is more slavery & more violence, rape and crime in the world today.

So what did those boomers achieve really?

A comfortable middle-class existence for themselves only?

Get out of your own headspace & try walking in someone else's shoes - the experience is enlightening & broadening.

Cheers,

Aceyducey

 

[DaleGG]

HI

Perhaps one distinction is that the boomers, and the previous generation before them, grew up in a world of scarcity. There was less food, much less credit options, fewer luxuries within reach, and less certainty about the future....

Todays generation have grown up in a world of abundance. There is an enormous amount of food readily avaialble to them; there is credit thrown at them from just about everyone and little luxuries can now be an everyday experience with little real reward or value attributable to them.

The me generation has come to expect gratification of their wants NOW.

Dale

 

[likewow]

HI

Perhaps one distinction is that the boomers, and the previous generation before them, grew up in a world of scarcity. There was less food, much less credit options, fewer luxuries within reach, and less certainty about the future....

Todays generation have grown up in a world of abundance. There is an enormous amount of food readily avaialble to them; there is credit thrown at them from just about everyone and little luxuries can now be an everyday experience with little real reward or value attributable to them.

The me generation has come to expect gratification of their wants NOW.

Dale

Thats true Dale but that also could apply to every generation compared to the one before them throughout modern history. The boomer generation grew up in absolute luxury compared to the previous depression generation.

But apparently thats where they got the save, work hard, prosper mindset from (their parents).

I am reading a book called the Birth of Plenty which analysises the sudden and increasing prosperity of the modern world (starting in 1820s) and how it came about after thousands of years of no progress.

 

[Bear924]

I guess the question is "When does it stop?" Each generation can't be all me, me,me, at some stage this mentality will catch up... at some stage somebody will need to pay the price (whatever that may be?)

I currently reading 'Branded' which discusses the way corporations are increasingly marketing to a younger and younger audience and using them to place pressure on their parents to buy buy buy. The older generation is therefore shaping the younger generation... each generation is really a product of the generation preceding it.

I'm not a parent yet (became engaged last w/end though) however if I get that opportunity I will try very hard to stop my children from become robots of the marketing machine, because from what I can see that is what is causing the creation of the me, me, me mentality (in boomers and younger)

 

[MichaelW]

Bear,

Nice post, and spot on with my thinking. I also think the consumerism of youth today is a result of a feeling of financial impotence. The marketing machine feeds their consumer tendencies and creates a consumer mentality. Then they see house prices soaring out of control, and basically reach the sad conclusion that it is impossible to be independently wealthy. So, they make the informed decision to opt out of the financial security path as its all too hard and focus on enjoying life within their actual sphere of influence.

If more young people actually believed they could become financially independent then they might not be so self-absorbed and consumerist. I think its a defeatist attitude that ends up with them trying to make the most of their sorry lot in life, come what may...

IMHO,
Michael.

PS. I'm a Gen Xer, but one of the ones that actually believes fervently in financial independence and my ability to realise it. I'm well down the path already and know I'll retire very wealthy in 10 years or so. Its not a gamble, or a risk, just a result of my hard work and informed decisions.

 

[Glebe]

I think the Baby Boomers are the most selfish generation ever created.

 

[Peter Parker]

Perhaps one distinction is that the boomers, and the previous generation before them, grew up in a world of scarcity. There was less food, much less credit options, fewer luxuries within reach, and less certainty about the future.

I'd be wary about lumping boomers and their parents in one lot.

Boomer's parents (which Hugh McKay calls the 'Lucky Generation') were largely formed by the Great Depression and WWII. Though they were raised in an environment of unemployment, scarcity and regimentation, from early adulthood (assuming they survived the war) they enjoyed full employment, rising real wages and increasing freedom. However the habits they learnt in more straightened times put them in good stead for the future and they thrived.

Boomers were brought up in an environment of full employment, parents who owned their own homes and cars and easier access to technical and university education due to expansion and Commonwealth support from the late 1950s onwards. Consumer credit and hire purchase, though not as widespread as in the 70s (with Bankcard) and the 90s (with home equity loans and interest free deals) became important for consumer durables such as appliances and motor cars (mostly locally assembled). Unlike their parents they did not experience enemy attack on their country, but did however have Vietnam, the spectre of the Cold War and global nuclear annihlation (probably peaking in 1961, but still lingering until 1989).

Boomers moved out young, had fewer kids than their parents (but still above replacement levels) and, especially from 1975 onwards, made divorce acceptable. The number of single parent families shot up again, but, unlike when it was also high in 1918, this was due to divorce, not war casualties. Though they might have questioned careers and materialism in the late 60s, many became the degreed corporate suits of today and retain control of many top positions.

It is true that boomers childhood contained less abundance than many Gen X and Y's childhood, but relative to the pre-boomers generation, boomers were a very pampered generation. However this meant that they might not have the same tools as their parents did to survive in times of scarcity/unemployment.

Boomers cast away traditional religions, but have embraced self-help, new age and the like to rid them of their ills (once physical needs have been met though jobs, houses and food, attention could then be given to the psychic). Hence from about 1972 (the first year many boomers could vote) 'quality of life' replaced 'standard of living' as the key preoccupation of politics. Probably not uncoincidentally, Robert J Ringer's book 'Looking out for No 1' became a best seller in 1977 (interestingly, like Marx, he hoped governments would fade away).

Boomer's children/Gen X were (generally) quite materially better off than their parents, though an increasing proportion were raised where no parent had a job, while others were raised in two career families. They spent more time in institutions; both childcare and universities.

An unemployment rate of 5-10% was accepted as a given, not as an exception. Responses have included staying at education for longer and other forms of employment, including investments and own businesses. Marriage and childbearing have been put off, (also apparently true for dot coms) and the trend of staying at home with mum and dad accelerated (possibly parents are more tolerant now).

The me generation has come to expect gratification of their wants NOW.

Which one of these above is the 'me generation'?

Or are difference between individuals in a single generation greater than differences between generations?

Regards, Peter

 

[see_change]

I think the Baby Boomers are the most selfish generation ever created.

Selfish !! , Nah ....

Just good timing Afterall they were the generation who created Dr Who and The Time Lords

See Change

 

[Bill.L]

Hi all,

Acey,
There is something out there that's better than "free love and weed"???

I've got to get out more often!!

bye