According to the “Generations Ahead” study from Allianz Life, millennials aren’t doing too badly, financially speaking.
They’re building good savings habits, thinking about retirement, etc. However, social media is doing a number on their good intentions.
Almost 90 percent of the millennials surveyed believe that social media encourages people to compare their own lives with the way other people live.
You don’t say.
More than half (57 percent) of those millennials cop to having spent money because of social media influence. That’s why I wrote “Social media will try to bankrupt you: Here are four tactics to stay solvent” over at The Simple Dollar.
Millennials aren’t the only ones being buffeted by Pinterest et al. Younger and older demographics are as potentially vulnerable to whatever the Joneses (or the Kardashians) are wearing, eating, drinking and watching.
If you’re being bitten by the consumer bug, this article can help you keep from scratching the resulting itch. The budget you save may be your own: Remember, social media may cause you to overspend but it sure won’t be there when your credit card bills arrive. Resist Pinterest mesmerism!
Also at The Simple Dollar:
“Half-price, not half-baked: Save a fortune at the bakery outlet”
“11 smart ways to use the ‘extra’ money in your paycheck”
“Slash your food budget with ‘salvage’ groceries”
Medical debt, lifestyle inflation and more
Millions of U.S. residents struggle with high medical costs. Even those with health insurance face deductibles, co-pays and other costs, leading to less-than-ideal coping tactics like using up savings or adding to credit card bills.
There is some good news: The three major credit reporting agencies have changed the way they look at medical debt. We now have 180 days before these unpaid bills gets added to our credit reports.
Use that extra time to attack your healthcare-related obligations, with help from my recent post at Magnify Money. “How to finally pay off your medical debt” offers tactics and, maybe, some things you didn’t know about healthcare payments. For example, did you know that sometimes Medicaid will pay retroactively? I sure didn’t.
Over at Money Talks News, I’ve put up two slideshows recently:
“20 things that are cheaper at Walmart than on Amazon”
“State by state: Where Americans are best and worst at managing debt”
Finally, I contributed a guest post to Get Rich Slowly, which was recently repurchased by its founder, J.D. Roth. “Fighting lifestyle inflation: Hopping off the hedonic treadmill” focuses on how not to get sucked into mindless buying. Bonus: Throttling back on spending can make the things we do buy that much cooler.
This post also includes coupon codes for the PDF versions of both of my books.
As always, I hope you’ll respond to these posts in their “comments” sections. It makes editors happy to see readers interact, and when they’re happy they’re more likely to assign me additional topics. A solvent blogger is a happy blogger.
Good info. Back in the olden days when I worked for medical assistance, I used to work those retroactive requests. People can save a lot of money, if they live in a state where that is offered.
I have never joined Pinterest because I am afraid. I would become dirty and unkempt and eventually have to leave my home with only my laptop. I think Pinterest could become my life if I ever go there.
You hit the nail about the disruption in our lives by social media. If there was a wish I could have granted, maybe it would be some scale back of the amount of, or a limit to, hours spent on it. Abnormal impressions of life, friendship, careers, communication, you name it– develops from the addiction to social media and the woulda, coulda, shoulda mindset it generates. Verifies the thought that if any modern development can become or be used for bad/evil–it will be.
People who don’t understand just how curated these things are really can believe that other people’s lives are 24/7 wonderful. Spoiler alert: They’re not.
Thanks for reading, and for leaving a comment.
I love pintrest and don’t use it to compare myself to others or build “wish lists” of what I need in my life. I use it to save things I want to come back to and enjoy. For example I love pumpkin recipes in the fall so I have a category with pumpkin recipes. Also I have a dog category filled with funny dog pictures and a humor category with cute cartoons that speak to my odd sense of humor. Nothing to yearn for in a materialistic way. Just humor and recipes and DYI charts etc. Am I doing it wrong?
Nope. You’re doing it exactly right: as a resource, not a tool for discontent.
“The budget you save may be your own”
Too funny! And so true. I know that I need to tighten the belt a bit around here; that someday-maybe-a-house ain’t gonna buy itself after all!
Pinterest was just starting to take off around the time I lost my eyesight, so I never really got into it. I’ve kind of dropped off Facebook, but use it (when I use it) mostly to keep up with family and local events.
My potential soc ial media downfall would be Twitter, where authors and publishers and bloggers I follow talk about book releases and what they’re reading. I love books, and I love to support authors and creators, especially indie ones, so it would be easy to strain the budget there. Instead, I add to my library wishlist and try to remember titles I’m interested in, in case they’re added later. That’s actually my strategy for a lot of things I see and want: Add it to the list. Then, if extra money/an Amazon GC comes along, I know what my priorities are.