Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers — Are You Spending Like Your Generational Peers?

NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast

NerdWallet Personal Finance

Business, Education, Investing, How To

4.2 • 665 Ratings

🗓️ 30 October 2024

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Learn how your spending compares to others in your generation using insights from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ annual Consumer Expenditure Survey. How does your spending compare to other people your age? Are you saving enough compared to others in your generation? Hosts Tess Vigeland and Anna Helhoski are joined by NerdWallet’s Senior Economist Elizabeth Renter to break down the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey. They dive into how income and spending patterns shift across generations, from Gen Z to the Silent Generation, and discuss average income peaks, the changing ratio of spending to income, and how generational differences in housing, healthcare, and food expenditures reflect larger economic trends. Enter your monthly after-tax income into NerdWallet's free budget calculator to create a suggested budget: https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/finance/nerdwallet-budget-calculator Then, Tess and Anna touch on key money headlines from the week, including updates to IRS tax brackets and deductions for 2025, the CFPB’s action against Apple and Goldman Sachs over Apple Card customer service failures, and the 50th anniversary of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, which gave women the right to access credit without a man’s signature. In their conversation, the Nerds discuss: Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey, generational spending habits, income-to-spending ratio, peak earning years, fixed income for retirees, healthcare spending by generation, food spending across generations, retirement savings trends, Gen Z spending habits, baby boomer financial challenges, millennials saving for retirement, housing costs by generation, transportation spending, food away from home trends, discretionary spending, debt in retirement, social security income, average income by age group, and generational wealth. To send the Nerds your money questions, call or text the Nerd hotline at 901-730-6373 or email [email protected]. Like what you hear? Please leave us a review and tell a friend. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Ready to launch your business? Get started with the commerce platform made for entrepreneurs.
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0:22.0	Shopify is made for entrepreneurs like you.
0:24.4	Sign up for your $1 a month trial at Shopify.com slash setup.
0:36.3	Welcome to NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast.
0:39.1	I'm Tess Vigland, filling in for Sean Piles.
0:41.6	And I'm Anna Hal Hoski.
0:43.2	And this is our weekly Money News Roundup, where we break down the latest in the world of finance to help you be smarter with your money.
0:50.0	We'll go deep into a single topic, then leave you with the latest money headlines.
0:53.7	Today, we are talking about my generation.
0:57.1	And my generation, all the generations.
0:59.6	The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently released data from its annual consumer expenditure survey
1:04.9	that shows our income and spending and how it changes from one stage of life to the next.
1:10.0	I love this.
1:10.7	And we have NerdWallet's
1:12.0	senior economist, Elizabeth Renter here with the key takeaways from her analysis of the report. Elizabeth,
1:17.7	welcome back to Smart Money. Hey, thanks for having me. Always good to chat with you both. So to spend
1:22.7	money, you usually have to make money. So first off, can you talk about how typical incomes shift throughout
1:29.3	our lives? Sure. So when we start out as young adults, our incomes are typically pretty low
1:35.2	relative to other adults. Whether we're college students or new in the workforce, we're on tighter
	...

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