For the young generation of working people, generation Y, the millennials, and the generation currently entering the labor market, generation Z, I find the creation of FYM more important than ever.
Some of these generations might have the notion that it is difficult for them to make ends meet with their money. They don’t see how you can have a nice life and still not spend everything that comes in. Or how it is possible to save and build something for later. However, it is clear to these generations that they will be more responsible than previous generations for their own financial health, while it is unclear how things like pensions will work for them.
I want to tell these generations that you have all the time you need to work on your financial health. You are not yet (or not too much) bothered by the lifestyle creep in which you think that all kinds of luxury and perhaps superfluous things are essential to you. Many people of generation X seem to be in the middle of this and although they are used to make more money they easily spend it all, every month. My message is that creating Fuck You Money is more important than ever.
It seems more difficult for the current generations to earn enough income to be able to save enough to buy their own house and build up capital. Let alone to build up financial buffers, create Fuck You Money or think about the idea that you might not always want to work, or perhaps never work again. When you start working and making money it is quite challenging to get your life in order. Your income isn’t very large yet and your expenses are growing faster, or at least as fast, as your income. And that’s what it’s all about.
Try to paint a more realistic picture of your desired lifestyle and the corresponding money behavior. When you were a student you probably went on vacation, with friends to a bar or to festivals. Now that you’re making money, why can’t you keep doing this? You can if you spend as much, or as little, money on it as you did when you were a student, and not suddenly two or three times as much, more often and for longer periods of time. You have acquired a number of responsibilities and expenses in this new phase of your life and you want to set aside money for all kinds of goals you never had to think about in your previous phase of life.
As a starter in this phase of life you actually have a number of advantages over older generations. First of all, you are aware of both the challenges and the opportunities early in your life, many people simply realize too late that they want to do something with money they don’t have at that time. If you start saving right away, you can let your money grow for a longer period of time. You can start small and make a habit of ‘just not spending all your money’. Secondly, you already have more experience with flexible forms of working and living than the previous generation. You are less attached to old-fashioned, rigid, contracts and relationships with employers and the government. As generation X we think we need to own everything and above all we gather a lot of materialistic stuff in our lives. For millennials it’s more possible to share things and more about having experiences instead of collecting things.