Budgeting for Millennials

Many urban youngsters are spending beyond their means and it is important that they track their expenses prudently, says Sabari Saran

- Sabari Saran

It is the story playing out with the millennial generation—they are smart, fast on the uptake and highly consumption driven. Garbed in their smart phones and smart watches, wear- ing swanky branded clothes, they have a different perspective on how they view money. Result: the word ‘savings’ has disappeared from their financial lexicon with ‘spending’ taking charge. The fallout—majority of urban youngsters today are living salary-to-salary, some scrimping the month with great difficulty.

It is common to meet millennials who go broke a week before the end of the month, yet stretch their credit limits on multiple cards and easy-to-borrow-routes—parents and friends. “While few urban youngsters are financially savvy and good savers due to family influence, most of them have no clue of money concepts. They are tempted to buy the best of electronics and spend on exotic vacations, with no clue about their future,” says Renu Maheshwari, CEO, Finscholarz.

App to the rescue

It is never too late to reassess your finances and the first step towards doing it is to track and analyse where your money is going. While keeping an expense diary and updating it can be an exhaustive affair, the other way of doing it is by reading your bank statements and trying to deduce where you spend the most. Plastic money and wallet spends have lead to the urban youngsters not feeling the same pinch one senses when one dispenses the same amount in cash. But remember, each transaction and card swipe is depleting your money from your bank account and it is important that you do not spend beyond your means.