NEWSWIRE: 6/12/17

  • A Harvard survey finds that teens and adults alike overestimate the share of Millennials who participate in “hookup culture.” In reality, while Millennials may be the heaviest users of Tinder and other gamified “hookup apps,” most would prefer a simpler, more traditional courtship. (Harvard Graduate School of Education)
    • NH: Yes, this is a very blue-zoney Harvard report full of alarms about rampant misogyny and inadequate progress on gender role redefinition. But it does make several sound points. First, the whole hookup phenomenon is way off the mark. See: "Did You Know? Hookup Culture? Not So Much." And second, late-wave Millennials and Homelanders need and indeed want some explicit guidance on what romantic love is supposed to be about. To quote the report: "The good news is that a high percentage of young people want this guidance."
  • Social scientist Mary Donohue says that Generation X is experiencing a lot of stress in the workplace. She’s right to point out that many Xers are “sandwiched” between retiring Boomer parents and grown Millennial children, which raises the stakes at work. (Wisconsin Public Radio)
    • NH: According a regular survey by the American Psychological Association, Millennials have won the laurels as the "most stressed" generation for several years running. Objectively, Xers are in bigger trouble (further behind on retirement savings and less time to catch up). But Millennials have higher expectations. See our original piece on this: "The Young and the Anxious."
  • A new report reveals that Millennials and Xers in the U.K. will likely never be able to match the pension assets currently held by Boomers. Indeed, the U.K. experience parallels America's: Boomers were the last generation to truly take advantage of generous defined-benefit pension plans before companies began closing the floodgates by shifting to defined contribution. (Institute and Faculty of Actuaries)
  • Bloomberg recently profiled Chelsey White, a baker who earns more money from creating cake tutorial videos than she ever did from selling cakes. The explosion in popularity of sites like Instagram and YouTube, combined with America’s “foodie” appetite, has turned social media stardom into a business in itself for chefs. (Bloomberg Business)
  • Fully 68% of Millennials expect to receive an inheritance, but only 40% of their parents plan to leave one. That being said, Millennials aren’t betting on this windfall alone: Most are banking on personal retirement savings, brokerage accounts, and workplace retirement plans to be their main sources of retirement income. (Natixis U.S. Investor Survey)
    • NH: The huge "inheritance windfall" that each generation expects to receive is in fact a mirage. Sure, personal ownership of total U.S. net worth (most recently priced at around $85 trillion) ultimately gets passed on. But the vast majority all goes to Muffy and Duffy--i.e., to the one percent of the one-percenters. On average, for example, each Boomer will receive--or already has received--between $1 and $2 million from their parents. So much for averages. Two-thirds of Boomers will receive nothing at all. And the median amount received by those who do inherit is in the neighborhood of $50,000. See AARP's revealing survey on this question.
  • Contributor David Matthau discusses the rise of gaming as a pastime among adult Xer and Millennial men. While he’s correct on many counts, he also implies that married men are shirking their household responsibilities to play video games, when in reality time use surveys show that today’s men are doing more around the house than ever. (New Jersey 101.5)
    • NH: What's more, the stereotype of gamers as dysfunctional, antisocial loners is not really backed by data. Overall, avid gamers are above-average in income, education, and sociability. See our work on this question, covered in The Washington Post.
  • Columnist Beth Teitell notes how Boomers are downsizing and their Millennial children are saying “no thanks” to family heirlooms. The reality is that Millennials live in small spaces and aren’t as interested in accumulating “things.” (The Boston Globe)
    • NH: "Gee, uh, thanks Mom...but I don't think I can use any of that." See A&E Networks for shows about Boomers who accumulate too much (Hoarders) and Millennials moving into very small spaces (Tiny House Nation). The storage industry, as a result, is on a terrific run.
  • Millennials spend an average of four hours per week taking care of personal financial matters in the workplace, more than twice as much time as older generations. Despite optimism that their financial situation will improve, many Millennials struggle with the stress of managing their current financial obligations. (Bank of America Merrill Lynch)
  • U.S. consumers made 433 million fewer trips to restaurants for lunch last year, putting the industry in a major funk. Packed work schedules, combined with cheaper grocery prices, has especially hurt casual and fast-casual establishments reliant on lunch traffic. (The Wall Street Journal)
  • Columnist Kate Taylor argues that, while Millennials may be “killing” industries such as diamonds, casual dining, and paper napkins, it’s all their parents’ fault. She’s right that Millennials watched Boomers plunge into financial duress during the Great Recession and are subsequently more cost-conscious and savings-oriented. (Business Insider)
    • NH: Oh, let's be honest: Many of these industries deserve to be killed. Here's one response to this piece: "Millennials are killing s----y chain restaurants and deserve a trophy for that." Key quote: "The fact of the matter is this – chain restaurants need to be better. I have no issue paying $12 for a burger and $7 for a beer, but if the burger sucks and the beer is swill, I won’t be making a habit of that. If the beer is awesome and the burger is delicious, you’ll see me there a lot more – and most chain restaurants can’t check off both of those boxes. It’s really that simple."

    DID YOU KNOW?

    The Greatest Show on Concrete. E-commerce chains hold all the cards against shopping malls, which have been transformed from consumer meccas into a retail afterthought. (See: “Is the Shopping Mall Fated for Extinction?”) But some shopping malls are going all-in on something that their digital brethren cannot offer: in-person attractions. Retail landlord Simon Property this month hosted its first carnival on the grounds of its Round Rock Premium Outlets mall space in Texas—and has plans for its various properties to play host to everything from food-truck festivals to live music performances. Tennessee-based CBL has vastly expanded its carnival business over the past several years, and is discussing adding pumpkin patches and movie nights in the near future. Though there’s no guarantee that carnival patrons and concertgoers will actually venture inside the building, the mere possibility is enough of a selling point, according to CBL’s Lisa Harper: “Events bring that additional traffic and also encourage people to stock around longer.”