Knowledge. Shared Blog

December 2019

Marching to a Million: How Are Millennials Managing Their Finances?

In our latest “Marching to a Million” video, we ask millennials working at Janus Henderson what they choose to spend money on, how they prioritize purchases and how they manage expenses so that they can continue to save for future goals.

Key Takeaways

  • Many of our millennial colleagues say they value experiences more than material items and choose to spend their money on things like travel and self-care.
  • When it comes to prioritizing their expenses, our interviewees express a willingness to cut back on extravagances to make sure they don’t overspend.
  • Financial apps are cited as a helpful tool for keeping track of spending and maintaining a balanced budget.
View Transcript

When you spend money, how are you spending it?

Kilian: So one thing that was always really important to my family was saving for travel. Half of my family is from Barcelona, so getting back over there to visit them was always a big part of my life. So that importance of, “Okay, maybe we are not going to go spend money on all the new gadgets and all the new small things that you might do day-to-day, and instead we are going to save that so we can go have this experience.”

Jerry: When I graduated, I said, “Hey, I graduated,” so I bought myself a guitar and that is probably the most expensive thing I have bought since then. Otherwise, any extra money will go to gas for a trip to the mountains with my friends or, I don’t know, a concert ticket if someone is in town.

Hadley: One of the most important things of my day-to-day life is self-care. And I would say if that is sushi on a Friday night or my gym membership, which I pay a little bit more for for the Pilates reformer classes, if I get a little bit more joy out of that to thoroughly enjoy my week versus being exhausted because I didn’t eat well enough or I didn’t get the right amount of workouts that my body needs in, I definitely feel more glum.

Caitlin: I like to travel. That is probably the thing I spend a lot of my money on, just going on trips with friends, even myself sometimes, going to visit family because I don’t live near them. You know, I am a millennial female, I enjoy shopping. Other than that, I really just try to save a lot of my money.

How do you prioritize your purchases?

Kilian: Just needs, wants, obligations … needs being rent, food, housing. Obligations being debt to student loans, car insurance, things like that, which I guess could be a want also, and then whatever is left, when there is anything left to spend. If I know I’m not doing too great or I’m over budget, just cutting out things, like not going out to eat, little things like that, just trying to reduce my spending not going out, or going out with friends, but not ordering a beer, just little things like that.

How do you make sure you don’t overspend?

Hadley: I actually use an app, and it allows me to see if I am spending over my budget. And often I do, I would say. And that sort of comes down to seeing if I need to re-evaluate my budget, which I don’t necessarily think I need to yet, but it does make me weigh my costs versus if it is something I really needed.

Jerry: You don’t need a Netflix subscription to survive day-to-day, so I think you can cut that out of your expenses. And then in terms of rent, more and more people I know are ditching the idea of, “Okay, I am out of college and I have got to move out now.” They actually go back home with their parents, free rent, free food, free laundry – a few pluses there. And then there are a few different ways to save money.

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