Bah humbug! Millennials disregard the cost of spreading holiday cheer more than any other generation.
Just over half of gift givers ages 23 to 38 are willing to add to existing debt in the name of end-of-year happiness,
For Gen-Xers, 49 percent were down to pile on more debt for some winter glee, the survey found. And for baby boomers, the number was only 34 percent.
The trend is concerning, especially since it can involve high-interest credit card debt, Patriot Bank executive vice president Judith Corprew says in a blog for CreditCards.com.
“Credit cards typically have some of the highest interest rates of any type of debt, meaning that the longer you maintain a balance, the larger the debt you’ll accumulate,” Corprew says.
Overall, it’s reflective of the harsh realities of balancing a checkbook with limited finances, experts said.
“We need to wake up as a society to the sobering truth of basic personal finance,” financial coaching business owner Scott Gillespie says in the CreditCards.com blog. “To go deeper in debt is to do the opposite of providing. It’s taking away from their livelihood by loaning away their future for the novelty of a holiday.”
This isn’t the only case of millennials’ questionable money management. There’s a growing sentiment among the so-called “entitled generation” that, despite earning six figures, there’s not enough cash left after shelling out for rent, bills, savings and basic wants.
“Adulting is very expensive,” one millennial, Jenny Castillo, told The Post of her life as a “HENRY,” which stands for “High Earners Not Rich Yet.”
And sometimes it’s not a matter of millennials spending money they don’t have. Some, like those in the “Financial Independence Retire Early (FI/RE)” camp are all about not spending what they do have — in other words, they’re the richest cheapskates.
“I was making six figures, and my shoes looked like they were going to fall apart,” one FI/RE follower told The Post.