Ever see one of those “millennials do this” kind of posts and yell about how it doesn’t apply to you and then wonder what’s wrong with you? Oh? No? Just me? Well, the latest in this trend made many a millennial look at themselves and ask what went wrong in their lives (or why their parents weren’t rich). At least we aren’t accused of killing an industry in this one.
According to an old CNBC article (that was apparently retweeted yesterday because it can generate evergreen outrage?), back in 2018, Bank of America apparently found a bunch of wealthy millennials for their survey. Their survey results—mind you, of a sample of a small group of millennials—said 1 in 6 of those millennials surveyed had $100,000 saved. Honestly, you have to laugh to make the tears stop.
The survey popped up again online when CNBC tweeted out their 2018 article, which highlighted the BofA survey plus the ever-helpful, ludicrous “here’s how much you should have saved by X age” advice. Twitter did its Twitter best with the topic.
Surveys and articles like these are in the vein of those that run with headlines like “23-year-old making $250,000k struggles to eat” and other click-bait-y monstrosities that play on the ever-widening economic gulfs in America and elsewhere. And not enough attention is ever paid to the fact that while 1 in 6 of these people surveyed have this kind of money saved, 5 in 6 most certainly did not! Still, CNBC should know better than to run this kind of thing again, unless it’s with an update from all of us who have zilch in savings.
Luckily, Twitter provided the laughter and levity we needed as we stared at our own savings accounts and said “What the actual f**k?”.
“1 in 6 millennials have $100,000 saved” pic.twitter.com/TddZ4TKJuc
— Jordan Veilleux (@veilleuxwho) October 21, 2019
1 in 6 millennials must have very rich parents!! https://t.co/FhJXS2ZJWy
— Sam 🍔 Blum (@Blumnessmonster) October 21, 2019
Let me correct that: 1 in 6 millennials have $100k in student loan debt. There; I fixed it. https://t.co/h7cUbsFFb1
— Marco A Hartmann 🧷💀 (@hartmannpsy) October 21, 2019
Who are these people!? *takes sip of Starbuck coffee* *dusts off Nike Air Force 1s* *Checks time on iPhone* https://t.co/AUlJj63Ysk
— Michelle Castillo (@MishCastillo) May 21, 2018
So 1 in 6 millennials comes from Old Money yeah we know https://t.co/wJDfUBTkQ6
— Lane Morgue (@hellolanemoore) October 21, 2019
They’re trolling again https://t.co/Bqehkt7Z8U
— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) October 21, 2019
Sure, there’s a lot to unpack with this idea. Mainly that CNBC went trolling and, of course, Twitter ran with it. There’s a lot of retweet excitement generated via outrage. But more importantly, we can look at the state of millennials and realize that many of us are underpaid, overworked, and still paying off the education loans that we were told were necessary in order for us to have these jobs that don’t pay us enough to even live? It’s a terrible cycle of pain, tears, and wasted money, and it doesn’t seem to be ending any time soon.
All that being said, what if we stopped looking just at millennials and shaming them, or praising them for outlandish saving feats most of us cannot dream of without outside help and privilege? Continually singling out millennials and blaming us for “killing” things or failing to have the same standard of living our parents and grandparents enjoyed is more a reflection on older generations than anything else.
The truth is this: None of us have money, we all cry, we all drown our sorrows in Netflix, and then get mocked for not having children or being married or buying too many avocadoes or whatever else you want to blame us for so whatever. I hope the 1 in 6 of us are happy!!!!
(image: Marvel Entertainment)
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