"They might be too afraid of debt.
The authors' research suggests that GenY is so frugal that they might take their fear of debt too far, and avoid even good investments such as college, home purchases, and small business start-up costs. "Many young people, especially those from lesser means, see the price tag [of college tuition] and think, 'Oh my god, I can't possibly take that on.' They could be shortchanging themselves,' says Ray, since college is an investment that pays off."
I stumbled upon this article the other day, and today was thinking of it again. The whole article frustrates me. It talks about Generation Y's spending habits and how they are afraid of debt, because of the economy they are becoming adults in. I agree that a lot of this generation is going to be deeply scarred by the economic situation we are in. I do not agree however that they are too frugal. Seriously. I think its a blessing that this economy is waking up a generation of people who hopefully will not all be consumed by the debt monstrosity that was before them. Everywhere you go credit is still being thrown into our faces. It is amazing to hear people saying no. Think of where we might be today if we had said no a long time ago. Maybe businesses will suffer slightly because they will no longer be making loads of money off the interest they charge their customers. But maybe families will be more stable because they instead are keeping their own money and saving it or investing it in their future rather than throwing it away to a company who will not be there when/if the economy falls again. I think being too frugal is an invalid phrase. If you are taking care of your bills and your household and you are not in a ton of debt then you are not being too frugal, you are just not repeating the mistakes that put us in this mess in the first place. So I say Gen Y continue on this path and I hope it leads too much more personal success and happiness.
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