Boomers are extra wasteful in sure spending classes than their youthful counterparts. These habits may be dangerous for the many individuals on this cohort who’re financially susceptible. – MarketWatch photograph illustration/iStockphoto
The wasteful habits of millennials and Gen Z members ought to come as no shock — it has been nicely documented that many of those shoppers are liable to impulse on-line spending and have grown hooked on the comfort of supply apps.
However new survey knowledge present that child boomers — America’s richest era and one usually perceived as being thriftier those who adopted — are extra wasteful in sure spending classes than youthful individuals. And people habits may be particularly dangerous for the many individuals on this erratically rich cohort who’re financially susceptible.
Particularly, child boomers are extra possible than the typical client to waste meals by throwing out leftovers or expired objects, to go away home equipment or utilities working unnecessarily, to purchase brand-name pantry objects and to purchase lottery tickets, in response to a current survey by Motley Idiot Cash.
And these habits have solely gotten costlier: Meals costs elevated by 2.9% in January in contrast with a 12 months earlier, fuel utility prices rose by 9.8% and electrical energy went up 6.3%, in response to the newest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“As soon as you might be drawing from financial savings as an alternative of constructing it, small recurring bills matter extra,” mentioned Melissa Caro, a monetary planner and founding father of My Retirement Community, a monetary training website. “Utilities, meals waste and life-style inflation can quietly erode money stream over a 20- to 30-year retirement. Even households with significant property must handle longevity danger, healthcare uncertainty and rising residing prices.”
Boomers — who have been born between 1946 and 1964 — have been extra possible than Individuals on common to waste cash throughout purchasing journeys, whereas on trip or for particular events, the ballot of two,000 U.S. adults discovered. Their commonest set off was gross sales and reductions.
However, millennials, who have been born between 1981 and 1996, and Gen Z, born between 1997 and 2012, have been extra more likely to waste cash on-line late at evening. Members of Gen X, born between 1965 and 1980, have been essentially the most susceptible to emotionally pushed purchasing however, together with boomers, have been more likely than youthful generations to withstand social-media developments and peer affect, the Motley Idiot survey confirmed.
Regardless of their wasteful methods, boomers are the wealthiest cohort in U.S. historical past. Many have been buoyed by the postwar financial growth, entry to reasonably priced faculty educations and office pensions, and development within the housing and inventory markets, MarketWatch just lately reported.
In step with broader developments within the economic system, nevertheless, their wealth just isn’t evenly distributed throughout the era. Pew Analysis Heart discovered that the highest 10% of boomer households owned 71% of the era’s total wealth.
As an example, Individuals 70 to 74, who fall in the course of the present boomer age vary, have a median internet value of about $476,000, together with residence fairness, MarketWatch beforehand reported — that means half of the individuals in that group have a internet value that’s decrease. The web value for these within the ninetieth percentile is sort of $3.3 million, or 6.8 instances the median.
This wealth hole means that for a lot of boomers, wasteful spending habits might have a significant affect on their monetary well-being.
The “big inequality inside the boomer era itself” means “some have paid-off houses and robust portfolios. Others rely nearly fully on Social Safety and have little or no margin for error,” Juan G. HernandezAriano, a monetary planner and principal at WealthCreate, informed MarketWatch.
In his expertise, boomers are largely “fairly cost-conscious in day-to-day spending,” however many are informal about bigger monetary choices that “slowly chip away at retirement safety,” equivalent to underestimating healthcare bills or being overly conservative with their investments.
Solely 40% of boomers — the youngest of whom are already 62 years outdated — are prepared for retirement, Vanguard estimates, that means their projected sustainable revenue exceeds their spending wants. These persons are “concentrated among the many prime 30% of revenue earners.”
There are different indicators that many boomers could also be victims of poor spending habits: Extra reported residing paycheck to paycheck — that means their spending on requirements took up greater than 95% of their revenue — in 2025 than in 2023, in response to the Financial institution of America Institute.
The common credit-card debt was $6,795 for boomers, 82.9% of whom had credit-card debt in 2025, the next fee than millennials (77.9%) or Gen Z (72.2%), in response to Experian. They have been additionally the more than likely to have home-equity strains of credit score.
Some might not even pay attention to their spending habits. Boomers have been extra possible than different generations to say they by no means waste cash — however “that doesn’t imply that there isn’t waste. It simply reveals up just a little in another way,” Joel O’Leary, private finance professional at Motley Idiot Cash, informed MarketWatch. “It’s extra like throwing away unused groceries or persevering with to go to Costco or a few of these costly shops and shopping for in bulk, after which throwing away a lot of it.”
Wasteful habits are dangerous after they begin to affect monetary safety. Whereas one-third of child boomers mentioned they needed to faucet their emergency financial savings within the final 12 months,16% of individuals on this age vary mentioned they don’t have any emergency financial savings, in response to 2025 Bankrate knowledge.
Like every client, boomers who wish to keep away from losing cash can take into account monitoring and analyzing bills and chopping again on bills that don’t really enhance their high quality of life.
Whereas Caro “wouldn’t describe wasteful spending as a defining boomer trait,” she famous that “many boomers have been raised by dad and mom who lived via the Nice Melancholy. That have tends to supply robust cash beliefs — generally within the course of utmost thrift, and generally in the other way. In households the place shortage was intense, the subsequent era can both internalize ‘waste not, need not’ or subconsciously react towards it.”
Subscribe to Our Newsletter
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
