For many younger generation who grew up during the financial crisis, possession of bulky items like houses and cars is no longer considered wise or necessary.
The bottom line: Formative financial worries were cemented just as smartphones arrived, allowing the rise of "sharing" and "gig economy" services like Uber.
Compared to baby boomers at the same age, millennia are:
- More likely to live with their parents.
- Less likely to be homeowners.
- More than twice as likely to be single.
- Less likely to have children.
They also have more than three times more debt, especially college loans.
"Millennials want to keep the money that they have" because they saw their parents lose their jobs and their homes, says Morley Winograd, who has written three books on the generation of the Great Recession.
Apple opened its iPhone App Store only two months before Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, creating the conditions for mobile services that reduced the need to own expensive items like cars.
- Even Airbnb was in part a byproduct of these factors, with two of the founders having the idea of housing travelers to help pay their rent by the end of 2007. Lehane, who adds: "This period is very present in the DNA of Airbnb. "
Go further: To be 30, then and now
