Things vs. Experiences - Is it generational?

[MonkeyMama]

Trips have the most depreciation..since you can't resell any of it.

As frugal people, we've never really gotten "vacation" spending. But I think this is also significantly compounded by just not being "vacation" or "travel" people. So not only do we not enjoy it that much in the first place, but it seems a terrible value for the money. The "stuff" we can always return if it sucks or we didn't like it. That is what I always say.

It also bothers me that people seem to always interpret that "experiences" mean "very expensive experiences". Lots of crazy debt justification on this front. We recognize that the stuff we use and enjoy every day creates enjoyable experiences on a daily basis. But I suppose I have always been turned off by our whole culture's bias towards "living for weekends" and "living for vacations". We try really hard to enjoy every single day. Which means we probably invest more into our "experiences" than most people do. I don't dream of living anywhere else, because I already live in paradise, just as an example.

[rennigade]

Trips have the most depreciation..since you can't resell any of it.

wut?? This is a very odd statement.

[disneysteve]

Experiences in my view is a luxury. Stuff is less of a luxury.

I state this because you can always resell stuff, but you can never resell experience.

Trips have the most depreciation..since you can't resell any of it.

This is a very odd viewpoint in my opinion, and goes against what most people think.

First off, experiences need not be luxuries. Experiences can be totally free or very inexpensive. For example, the 3 of us went to the see the New Year's Eve fireworks this year on the Philadelphia waterfront. The experience cost us $10 for parking. But we had a surprisingly good time. I've told many people about it since then, and I'm sure DW and DD have done the same. We've already said that we want to do it again next year (this was the first time we ever did it). We will remember it for years to come along with having pictures and video to look back at.

Things, however, quickly depreciate. That 40" TV that you were all excited about buying loses it's appeal pretty fast once the 48" model came out, and then the HD model, and then the 3D model. As for reselling the stuff, it may be hard to get much or even find a buyer for an outdated piece of technology.

Of course, some experiences are definitely luxuries. Ask my daughter to name some birthday gifts she's gotten over the years and she may remember a few favorites, but ask her to tell you about cave-tubing in Belize or zip lining in Florida or hiking the White Mountains in New Hampshire or seeing the giant Sequoias in California and she'll rattle on for hours. Memories are priceless, and they never wear out or go out of style. And making new ones doesn't make the old ones any less valuable.

[disneysteve]

It also bothers me that people seem to always interpret that "experiences" mean "very expensive experiences".

Agreed. As I just said above, lots of great experiences are free or very cheap. Going to a parade, seeing a free concert, attending some type of festival, or going on a nature walk are just a few examples of things that can create wonderful memories without costing much if anything.

As for the generational thing, I don't personally think it matters. I think it's more personal than age-related. Some people just value stuff more while others value experiences more no matter how old they are.

[disneysteve]

Whiskey Walk? All I can think of is a marathon where you get drunk off whiskey and see who can still walk. The one who walks the farthest wins?

LOL. That might be how some people approach it. My wife and I wouldn't take that direction. We'd be doing it to sample and learn about the different whiskeys. On the Walk, you visit 8 bars and get to try different whiskeys at each of them.

Just last weekend, we did a distillery tour and tasting with another Living Social voucher. For $20, we got a tour of the place from one of the co-owners and then got to sample the 4 products they produce. It was a fun afternoon out. The only other expense was the $5 bridge toll on the way. We did end up spending more because we bought a couple of cocktails while we were waiting for the tour and bought a bottle of their single malt when we were done, but those purchases were totally optional. If money was tight, $25 would have covered the experience for us.

[TexasHusker]

Millennials are into beards, local coffee shops, and poking fun at the rest of us for our abhorrently misplaced values.

[Singuy]

This is a very odd viewpoint in my opinion, and goes against what most people think.

First off, experiences need not be luxuries. Experiences can be totally free or very inexpensive. For example, the 3 of us went to the see the New Year's Eve fireworks this year on the Philadelphia waterfront. The experience cost us $10 for parking. But we had a surprisingly good time. I've told many people about it since then, and I'm sure DW and DD have done the same. We've already said that we want to do it again next year (this was the first time we ever did it). We will remember it for years to come along with having pictures and video to look back at.

Things, however, quickly depreciate. That 40" TV that you were all excited about buying loses it's appeal pretty fast once the 48" model came out, and then the HD model, and then the 3D model. As for reselling the stuff, it may be hard to get much or even find a buyer for an outdated piece of technology.

Of course, some experiences are definitely luxuries. Ask my daughter to name some birthday gifts she's gotten over the years and she may remember a few favorites, but ask her to tell you about cave-tubing in Belize or zip lining in Florida or hiking the White Mountains in New Hampshire or seeing the giant Sequoias in California and she'll rattle on for hours. Memories are priceless, and they never wear out or go out of style. And making new ones doesn't make the old ones any less valuable.

Just because an experience is free or low cost doesn't actually mean just that. You know what they say..time is money.

Let just say my wife and I take a staycation..just sitting at home watching tv and sit in the backyard for a week. This staycation will cost us about 6k just for hiring people to fill in plus not going to work myself (my paid time off can be cashed out for $$$ every year). And then if we take this 6k we would of made and put it in an investment at 7% return. This simple free staycation actually cost us 49k over 30 years. The opportunity cost at a young age is greatly amplified vs someone who choose to take the same staycation in their 60s.

So a simple 3 weeks off a year not going to anywhere will cost us 1.8 million dollars over 30 years. How is that for my "free" experiences? Like I said..thinking about money in this fashion is the road to great wealth..but it's also extremely heartless.

Also the experience of a new piece of hardware is the cost. I can get any 50 inch tv off craigslist for 100 bucks and then sell it back in a month for 100 bucks. Same goes with almost everything. In fact I know many smart shoppers who buy cheap clothing from goodwill and then resale them on ebay for higher.

[disneysteve]

Let just say my wife and I take a staycation..just sitting at home watching tv and sit in the backyard for a week. This staycation will cost us about 6k just for hiring people to fill in plus not going to work myself (my paid time off can be cashed out for $$$ every year).

I think your situation is atypical. When most people take vacation time, they don't have to pay someone to work in their place.

I get 4 weeks of paid vacation every year and it's use it or lose it. If I forgo the vacation weeks and work instead, I don't make a penny more, so why would I work? I'd much rather spend that time with my wife even if all we did was do stuff around the house and not go out spending money. In fact, it might even save me money because it would give me time to do some projects myself that I might otherwise have to hire someone to do for me.

But we're off topic now. The question was if there is a generational difference in people valuing experiences over stuff.

When the company running the Whiskey Walk promotes themselves as catering to the "experience-craving generation", who are they targeting? The nature of this particular event would seem to be targeting 20-30-somethings. But I know plenty of people my age and older who are very much into experiences now that they are empty-nesters and can go out and do things that they haven't been able to do for the past 20-30 years while they were busy being parents.

[Singuy]

[QUOTE=disneysteve;449368]I think your situation is atypical. When most people take vacation time, they don't have to pay someone to work in their place.

I get 4 weeks of paid vacation every year and it's use it or lose it. If I forgo the vacation weeks and work instead, I don't make a penny more, so why would I work?
/QUOTE]

You can always make more money. I know people who takes day off from one job just to work at another (to pay off student loans). This one tech works 7 days on, then 7 days on again..overnight at two different hospital to pay for his kid's medical school.

I do believe that millennials are more informed and may take certain information the wrong way. There are numerous studies telling you that experiences are what makes you happier, and that making more than X amount of money doesn't add anymore happiness to one's life. Millennials also can't shake off material goods...because people always ignore the second part of that study..which is material goods give people the sense of accomplishments..and that is a different type of happiness in which correlates extremely well as $$$ goes up without a cap.

So I say both, and it depends on which side of the bed Millennials walk up, they crave stuff AND experiences. In fact material goods and experiences are woven into one...if they go on a trip..it must be the best. If they buy something for themselves, it must be the best. This is the YOLO/FOMO generation.

[StormRichards]

You can always make more money.

Except those people that can't find a single job

[StormRichards]

Just because an experience is free or low cost doesn't actually mean just that. You know what they say..time is money.

Let just say my wife and I take a staycation..just sitting at home watching tv and sit in the backyard for a week. This staycation will cost us about 6k just for hiring people to fill in plus not going to work myself (my paid time off can be cashed out for $$$ every year). And then if we take this 6k we would of made and put it in an investment at 7% return. This simple free staycation actually cost us 49k over 30 years. The opportunity cost at a young age is greatly amplified vs someone who choose to take the same staycation in their 60s.

So a simple 3 weeks off a year not going to anywhere will cost us 1.8 million dollars over 30 years. How is that for my "free" experiences? Like I said..thinking about money in this fashion is the road to great wealth..but it's also extremely heartless.

Also the experience of a new piece of hardware is the cost. I can get any 50 inch tv off craigslist for 100 bucks and then sell it back in a month for 100 bucks. Same goes with almost everything. In fact I know many smart shoppers who buy cheap clothing from goodwill and then resale them on ebay for higher.

I would never trade the memories we made taking our daughter to Disney for any amount of millions in the future. Same goes for the beach vacations we have gone on. Or merely just taking one day off and going to the local swimming pool.

[~bs]

Funny, I always thought it was the millenials that were more interested in experiences - vacations and stuff. Higher tendency to stay at home, work **** jobs, etc to spend time doing stuff they think it's more fulfilling. Not as interested in sports cars, etc. Interested in fancy dining, high end hotels, etc. A clear sign of interest in experiences (and showing it off) is social media. Taking pictures of food, on trips, in risky locations etc.

I don't think it's a generational think if your viewpoint is the older generation is also interested in experiences.

[~bs]

I think your situation is atypical. When most people take vacation time, they don't have to pay someone to work in their place.

I get 4 weeks of paid vacation every year and it's use it or lose it. If I forgo the vacation weeks and work instead, I don't make a penny more, so why would I work? I'd much rather spend that time with my wife even if all we did was do stuff around the house and not go out spending money. In fact, it might even save me money because it would give me time to do some projects myself that I might otherwise have to hire someone to do for me.

But we're off topic now. The question was if there is a generational difference in people valuing experiences over stuff.

When the company running the Whiskey Walk promotes themselves as catering to the "experience-craving generation", who are they targeting? The nature of this particular event would seem to be targeting 20-30-somethings. But I know plenty of people my age and older who are very much into experiences now that they are empty-nesters and can go out and do things that they haven't been able to do for the past 20-30 years while they were busy being parents.

Well if you own a business, which I'd guess maybe 5% of people do (I don't really know), you either have to just eat the loss in revenue during the period you're out or arrange for more coverage by paying other people to do your work.

Being a regular W-2 employee is nice in that you get a paid vacation, which is a real paid vacation. If you're a business owner, you're likely have to pay to go on vacation and pay for your vacation. Kind of a double whammy.


--- back to the topic, doesn't seem like there's a generational difference. Or if there is, it's not that large or clearly defined.

[Singuy]

Except those people that can't find a single job

Well SR..I wonder how illegal immigrants who barely knows the language manage to take away so many jobs from people here if jobs are that hard to come by?

There's no such thing as not able to find a single job. You are referring to not able to find a single job that the person wants....huge difference.

[Singuy]

Funny, I always thought it was the millenials that were more interested in experiences - vacations and stuff. Higher tendency to stay at home, work **** jobs, etc to spend time doing stuff they think it's more fulfilling. Not as interested in sports cars, etc. Interested in fancy dining, high end hotels, etc. A clear sign of interest in experiences (and showing it off) is social media. Taking pictures of food, on trips, in risky locations etc.

I don't think it's a generational think if your viewpoint is the older generation is also interested in experiences.

That could just be a bias. You think it happens more because people are showing it off on social media more.

Kind of like how everyone thinks the world is going to **** because news travel so much faster today than years before despite data showing the opposite.

I do think YOLO/FOMO is a thing. Perhaps you can even make a case that millennial may like to extract the "experience" part out of material goods MORE today than before. This is why there's a spike in car LEASING, watch leasing, clothes leasing, house leasing/renting high end that the millennial are very much into. Remember how I said depreciation is the "experience" equivalent of material things?