As a baby millennial (I was born on the cusp of the generation’s endzone), I’ve gotten used to hearing people denigrate the older kids of my generation. “You’re always on your phones,” “You don’t know how to really live,” “You don’t know how to spend your money,” they’d say. Not knowing any better, I’d agree. If you just used haul videos on YouTube as a basis, you’d think that this generation is the most materialistic, money-wasting generation that existed. Hold up, though: a study by Nielsen Holdings, Inc. found that the opposite is true.
In fact, the study says that our generation is more frugal than other generations, despite being in a culture that’s more spend-happy and consumer-driven. We’re also better at planning our finances compared to our parents, the study found.
Our generation has a different way of viewing our expenses. We consider the things we buy as personal experiences. I know from my own spending habits that when I’m purchasing something, I see more than the thing itself. This dress isn’t just a dress, it’s a dress that will make me look nice enough that my crush will definitely fall in love with me. This trip isn’t just a trip, it’s a trip that’ll change my life and my world view. It makes sense then that Filipino millennials are big on spending on travel and self-care: a local study conducted by Google Trends in 2017 saw that Filipino millennials are responsible for 52% of travel searches, 19% of which were for searches on accommodations and attractions. It also saw that self-care and things relating to passions were on our lists of necessities, which isn’t something you can say about the previous generations.
Because we view our purchases as something personal, we’re more cautious. We want to buy the right thing, which is why even though it looks like we may spend big on seemingly frivolous things, we’re actually still wiser spenders. This leads us to being more on top of things when it comes to financial planning. Banks like BPI are taking notice, with BPI pushing forward their Preferred Banking system as a personalized banking experience for millennials. The system gives the client their own relationship manager, numerous perks at different partner merchants and establishments, and a choice of their own scheme of luxury experiences, presenting the client a lot more control than in the traditional banking system.
“Not a lot of banks understand the young people’s need to have the best of both worlds, but now that millennials are known to be more conscious about financial planning, we’ve made it a point for BPI to create personal relationships with them through Preferred Banking,” Joey Gotuaco, Executive Vice President of BPI’s Retail Client Segment Group explains.
In the end, it’s nice to know that our generation is finally getting the acknowledgment we deserve. The next time your old tito tells you about how awful millennials are, maybe tell him that at least we know how to manage our finances better than his generation ever did (I mean, look at what the boomers have done to this country). Maybe that’ll shut him up.
Featured photo courtesy of Ogilvy.
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