CELEBRATIONS AND SOCIAL EVENTS ARE AFFECTING YOUNG GENERATION’S MONEY GOALS

A wedding can cost a considerable sum of money to celebrate the happy couple. It’s no a secret that hosting your own wedding requires its own financial planning, but just attending a nuptial ceremony — not to mention pre-ceremony festivities- is cutting into personal budgets.

In fact, 46% of millennials and 48% of Gen Z say spending on friends’ and family members’ weddings, baby showers or other celebrations is getting in the way of their personal goals, according to a recent survey from Prudential.

The younger generations were far more likely than Gen X and baby boomers to say weddings or other events are affecting their personal money goals, which include owning a home or having kids.

A few factors outside of their control may be making it harder for young people to keep their finances on track, but many of these consumers could be doing more to avoid stressing about money.

The current millennial age range — 26 to 41 — might be one of the reasons wedding spending is such a burden. Much of the generation is in their late 20s and 30s, right around the time many people get married.

Event frequency can certainly impact millennials, but younger people may also be behind on saving because they haven’t been working — and therefore saving — for as long as the older generations. The economic downturn caused by the pandemic also hurt millennials more than any other generations.

Even young people who have been able to build up some savings report using that money more frequently than other generations.

A quarter of millennials are tapping into their emergency funds at least once a month, and 23% say they’ve done so to pay for a gift or attend an event celebrating a friend or family member’s milestone, Prudential’s survey found.

The survey also found 39% of millennials report having no emergency savings, and half say they regularly run out of money and have to rely on credit cards or family for financial support

Kamaron McNair