It’s Not OK, Boomer: What Zoomers Want You To Know About Their ‘Out of Control’ Spending
Written by
Laura Bogart
Edited by
Kristen Mae
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Zoomers are known for a lot of things. Some of these are fair, like their inventiveness with language and their enthusiasm for embracing new technology. Others, not so much, such as the assumption that they all play fast and loose with their money.
Older generations, including Baby Boomers, have greeted Gen Z’s claims that life today feels exponentially more expensive now than in the past with skepticism, pointing to the younger generation’s penchant for spending on luxuries like streaming services or lattes (an ache familiar to Millennials, too).
However, when TikTok creator and realtor Freddie Smith put these stereotypes under the magnifying glass, he discovered that these previous generations’ smugness about Zoomers’ spending was wholly misplaced. In fact, their attitudes about Gen Z’s supposedly out of control spending weren’t rooted in current financial reality.
Necessities and Luxuries Have Swapped in Cost
According to Smith, older generations have bees in their bonnets over what they see as wasteful spending on luxuries because they came of age in a time when necessities — like rent and groceries — were actually more affordable than luxuries. That might seem like a wild claim, but Smith breaks it down.
“Back in the ’80s, luxuries were expensive, but life was cheap,” he said. “Now, it’s been inverted. Our life is expensive, but our luxuries are cheap, so I think that’s where the disconnect is happening.”
Older Generations Are Used to Paying More for Non-Necessities
In 1980, you could rent an apartment for $200 (yes, you read that right — $200), but a television cost $1,000, a CD player retailed for $500, and a cell phone went for $2,000. If you wanted a personal computer, you’d better be prepared to pony up at least $2,500. Even a microwave would set you back $500.
Smith assumes an average household has three televisions, totalling $3,000 in 1980. All of these combined add up to about $8,500 spent on non-essential purchases, or, as Smith pointed out, roughly three and a half years’ worth of rent at the time.
As Smith explained, this shaped the older generation’s mindset where spending on technology or other luxuries in lieu of prioritizing goals like saving for a house was a sign of fiscal frivolity.
“$8,500 was the equivalent to a 20% down payment on a $40,000 home. So it was irresponsible if you didn’t budget correctly to buy all of these luxuries, because it could be holding you back.”
For Zoomers, Necessities Are Priced Like Luxuries
For Zoomers, a $200 apartment is pure fantasy — like, you expect Samwise Gamgee to teleport from Middle Earth to bring you your keys. As Smith put it, “our biggest luxury is our rent.”
Today, average rent hovers around $2,000, and you can get three TVs for around $600. Music is also far more affordable, with streaming subscriptions costing around $100 per year. A smartphone runs about $1,000 (often less if used or refurbished), while a laptop is around $500 and a microwave about $200.
Together, these luxuries add up to $2,400, or just a little more than a single month’s rent — a stark contrast to the past, when similar spending represented the equivalent of three years’ worth of rent.
“If you wanted to put this into a down payment … let’s bring it down to just $320,000. A 20% down payment on that is $64,000,” Smith said. “So if you gave up all of those luxuries, you would still owe $61,000. This $2,400 of luxuries wouldn’t even cover your closing costs of $10,000 on that home.”
The Generational Wealth Gap
Essentially, Zoomers are navigating an entirely different economic reality than Gen Xers, Baby Boomers, and even older Millennials. Yet, many older generations refuse to acknowledge this shift, blaming young people’s financial struggles on their spending habits rather than seismic shifts in systemic costs.
“[We can’t] move forward because housing, daycare, college and healthcare are so expensive,” Smith said. “But those are our necessities.”
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