Gen-Xer here,and that list didn't seem too extravagant to me - maybe going out a bit more than I did when I was single, but not too much. Once I started working post grad school, I lived pretty similarly up until I got married in my late 30s. (salary range between $55k-90k during that period of time). I did have a car, but didn't have student loans. Managed to always put away least 5% for retirement (to get match), usually more, plus some other savings. I didn't get a good gym membership (with a pool!) or the iphone until my later years, though my iphone really wasn't all that more expensive than the land line had been. I kept my landline and felt that was more of an extravagance than my cell phone was, since the cell phone is now pretty much a necessity for my job.

But as others have said, having a roomate(s) is key to making this work - that $600 -1000/month saved in rent really made the budget balance for everything else.

Millennia's just spend too much. When I was 24 here was my stats.

Dump shithole of an apt outside city in a not gentrified area at $350 for my share.
No Car
Train to work, walked station
No Taxis rides ever, could no afford.
No Student loans could not afford and Mom would not allow so non one to cosign.
Utilities was electric and a plain old phone in house, no cable, no cell phones etc.
No Gym
Coffee at home, whatever on sale or shitty coffee at work.
Slices of Pizza cheap place, dirty water dogs or cafeteria. No eating out in restaurants ever.
Supermarket only what's on sale or store brand.
Around $200 a month on beer. Mostly in bars
No vacations, but went to beach a lot in summer and on trips with buddies if splitting costs and cheap.
Once a year big Macy's sale for suits. With employee discount from friend that worked there.

The no gym, no coffee out, no smart phone, no taxis alone saved a ton let alone the shit hole apt.

Kids spend at 25 as if they are 45 year old Vice Presidents

Anonymous wrote:What is the point of this post?

Casting a TV show - "Friends" for the today's world. Of course, it has all the gritty financial reality of the original TV series.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Curious what it would say about the millennial stereotype of being entitled/spoiled/too many lifestyle demands for what they work for.

And yes, as an elder millennial myself, I am perfectly aware that many millennials do NOT live like this. It's stereotyping how people THINK millennials live, or what's marketed to them.

- Apartment near a metro station in Adams Morgan, Arlington or DTSS. Shared with one roommate or partner. No children.
- No car, uses transit + a handful of uber or lyft trips.
- Student loan payments of say, $300/month.
- iPhone + unlimited data.
- Utilities including fios and Netflix, Hulu, and HBO NOW, split with roommate or partner.
- Gym membership with trendy yoga/pilates/barre classes.
- Twice a week Pumpkin Spice Lattes at Starbucks or fancy hipster coffee shop.
- Twice a week fast-casual or office-cafeteria lunches.
- Weekly brunch with bottomless mimosas.
- Groceries from a "normal people" store like Safeway, Aldi, or Giant...supplemented by farmers market produce.
- Weekly happy hours.
- Yearly vacation (international flight, but with lower-cost hostel. Some shopping, mixed restaurants and street food, drinking/going out).
- Weekly "night out on the town" involving a few drinks and a Lyft ride
- Semi-yearly wardrobe updates of professional and "athleisure" clothing.
-Whatever else you can think of that fits

$90k a year, or $180k with a partner. But this is if you save very little of your money. My bf and I make about $200k a year together and we do like half of that stuff. It's nicer to see savings/retirement steadily climbing.

I feel like we're at a pretty f*cked up place in our society when twice a week cafeteria style fast casual lunches is considered some major extravagance. The only actually luxurious thing on this list is the fancy gym. Ooh takeout coffee twice a week - how dare anyone spend $11 on a delicious treat.

OK weekly happy hours, weekly brunch, and one vacation a year are also a little extravagant - those stupid millennials, thinking they're entitled to some entertainment and leisure. How dare they!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Curious what it would say about the millennial stereotype of being entitled/spoiled/too many lifestyle demands for what they work for.

And yes, as an elder millennial myself, I am perfectly aware that many millennials do NOT live like this. It's stereotyping how people THINK millennials live, or what's marketed to them.

- Apartment near a metro station in Adams Morgan, Arlington or DTSS. Shared with one roommate or partner. No children.
- No car, uses transit + a handful of uber or lyft trips.
- Student loan payments of say, $300/month.
- iPhone + unlimited data.
- Utilities including fios and Netflix, Hulu, and HBO NOW, split with roommate or partner.
- Gym membership with trendy yoga/pilates/barre classes.
- Twice a week Pumpkin Spice Lattes at Starbucks or fancy hipster coffee shop.
- Twice a week fast-casual or office-cafeteria lunches.
- Weekly brunch with bottomless mimosas.
- Groceries from a "normal people" store like Safeway, Aldi, or Giant...supplemented by farmers market produce.
- Weekly happy hours.
- Yearly vacation (international flight, but with lower-cost hostel. Some shopping, mixed restaurants and street food, drinking/going out).
- Weekly "night out on the town" involving a few drinks and a Lyft ride
- Semi-yearly wardrobe updates of professional and "athleisure" clothing.
-Whatever else you can think of that fits

$90k a year, or $180k with a partner. But this is if you save very little of your money. My bf and I make about $200k a year together and we do like half of that stuff. It's nicer to see savings/retirement steadily climbing.

I feel like we're at a pretty f*cked up place in our society when twice a week cafeteria style fast casual lunches is considered some major extravagance. The only actually luxurious thing on this list is the fancy gym. Ooh takeout coffee twice a week - how dare anyone spend $11 on a delicious treat.

For one person:

- Apartment near a metro station in Adams Morgan, Arlington or DTSS. Shared with one roommate or partner. No children. $1000/mo
- No car, uses transit + a handful of uber or lyft trips. $200/mo
- Student loan payments of say, $300/month. $300/mo
- iPhone + unlimited data. $110/mo
- Utilities including fios and Netflix, Hulu, and HBO NOW, split with roommate or partner. $150/mo
- Gym membership with trendy yoga/pilates/barre classes. $100/mo
- Twice a week Pumpkin Spice Lattes at Starbucks or fancy hipster coffee shop. $100/mo
- Twice a week fast-casual or office-cafeteria lunches. $200/mo
- Weekly brunch with bottomless mimosas. $200/mo
- Groceries from a "normal people" store like Safeway, Aldi, or Giant...supplemented by farmers market produce. $500/mo
- Weekly happy hours. $200/mo
- Yearly vacation (international flight, but with lower-cost hostel. Some shopping, mixed restaurants and street food, drinking/going out). $2000/year
- Weekly "night out on the town" involving a few drinks and a Lyft ride. $400/mo
- Semi-yearly wardrobe updates of professional and "athleisure" clothing. $2000/year
- Hair care (cut, color, styling stuff). $100/mo
- Cosmetics. $50/mo

My total of that is $47,320. I think all those numbers are fairly low and don't include stuff like insurance, savings, etc. Living with someone helps a lot.
With that math, which I feel is low and doesn't i

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm also an elder millennial (1982) and I don't get this. Millennials are too big of a "generation" span, and many are in their very late 20s or in their 30s. They're not Netflix originals characters. They're going to work at a 9-5 (or a 9-7) and getting coffee 6 days a week and returning home at the end of the day, many to a spouse or kids.

I have a 10 year old so my life is not as your describe, and come to think of it, I don't really know other millennials like that either.

I’m 33 and while this doesn’t resemble my life at all, I know plenty of people my age with exactly this lifestyle except most of them live in Navy Yard nowadays.

But I think our (PPs) point is that at 33, most people are 10 years into a career and making enough money to afford their lifestyle choices, therefore making the whole "entitlement" thing a moot point.

Ha -- yes. It's like all these people think we're all 24 years old and single.

Millennials are, at this point, anywhere from 23-38 years old.

But we’re all the same. Didn’t you realize that?

-33 yo divorced millennial with two kids, making poverty wages, and busting ass in graduate school

DC is a young millennial (23), so at the other end of the spectrum. Salary and bonus is around $100k. Expenses are approximately:

Rent and parking - $2500
Utilities - maybe $50 - no cable, still on the family cell phone plan
Health club - $100
Uber - $150, parking in DCs city is difficult
Food - $300 ($75/week on groceries and lunch- shops mostly at whole foods)
Restaurants - $300+ - eats out a lot, and at nice places
Travel - varies, but has been on quite a few weekend trips, and one longer vacation
Clothes - not sure, but not too much
Savings - 15% to 401k every month, also saving on top of that

I am a 27 year old millennial and OP pretty much describes my spending well excect I don’t have student loans (yet—going to grad school in fall). I make over six figures so nothing listed feels too indulgent

I am also an older millenial with four kids and a fairly high paying job. When I was a resident, I made $38k/yr and had a lifestyle like this.
Rent: $10k
Utilities + iPhone: $4k
Gym membership: $1500
Car + insurance: $4k
Food budget including happy hours, brunch, coffee, farmers market, occasional dinners out: $8k
Health insurance: $2k
Yearly vacation: $1500
Clothes: $2k
Taxes: $5k

I wasn’t paying on my student loans at the time.

Anonymous wrote:Curious what it would say about the millennial stereotype of being entitled/spoiled/too many lifestyle demands for what they work for.

And yes, as an elder millennial myself, I am perfectly aware that many millennials do NOT live like this. It's stereotyping how people THINK millennials live, or what's marketed to them.

- Apartment near a metro station in Adams Morgan, Arlington or DTSS. Shared with one roommate or partner. No children.
- No car, uses transit + a handful of uber or lyft trips.
- Student loan payments of say, $300/month.
- iPhone + unlimited data.
- Utilities including fios and Netflix, Hulu, and HBO NOW, split with roommate or partner.
- Gym membership with trendy yoga/pilates/barre classes.
- Twice a week Pumpkin Spice Lattes at Starbucks or fancy hipster coffee shop.
- Twice a week fast-casual or office-cafeteria lunches.
- Weekly brunch with bottomless mimosas.
- Groceries from a "normal people" store like Safeway, Aldi, or Giant...supplemented by farmers market produce.
- Weekly happy hours.
- Yearly vacation (international flight, but with lower-cost hostel. Some shopping, mixed restaurants and street food, drinking/going out).
- Weekly "night out on the town" involving a few drinks and a Lyft ride
- Semi-yearly wardrobe updates of professional and "athleisure" clothing.
-Whatever else you can think of that fits

$90k a year, or $180k with a partner. But this is if you save very little of your money. My bf and I make about $200k a year together and we do like half of that stuff. It's nicer to see savings/retirement steadily climbing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm also an elder millennial (1982) and I don't get this. Millennials are too big of a "generation" span, and many are in their very late 20s or in their 30s. They're not Netflix originals characters. They're going to work at a 9-5 (or a 9-7) and getting coffee 6 days a week and returning home at the end of the day, many to a spouse or kids.

I have a 10 year old so my life is not as your describe, and come to think of it, I don't really know other millennials like that either.

I’m 33 and while this doesn’t resemble my life at all, I know plenty of people my age with exactly this lifestyle except most of them live in Navy Yard nowadays.

But I think our (PPs) point is that at 33, most people are 10 years into a career and making enough money to afford their lifestyle choices, therefore making the whole "entitlement" thing a moot point.

Ha -- yes. It's like all these people think we're all 24 years old and single.

Millennials are, at this point, anywhere from 23-38 years old.

What I'm curious about is who even believes this would-be stereotype. The single 24-year-olds on TV aren't even living party girl lives anymore!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm also an elder millennial (1982) and I don't get this. Millennials are too big of a "generation" span, and many are in their very late 20s or in their 30s. They're not Netflix originals characters. They're going to work at a 9-5 (or a 9-7) and getting coffee 6 days a week and returning home at the end of the day, many to a spouse or kids.

I have a 10 year old so my life is not as your describe, and come to think of it, I don't really know other millennials like that either.

I’m 33 and while this doesn’t resemble my life at all, I know plenty of people my age with exactly this lifestyle except most of them live in Navy Yard nowadays.

But I think our (PPs) point is that at 33, most people are 10 years into a career and making enough money to afford their lifestyle choices, therefore making the whole "entitlement" thing a moot point.

I don’t understand.