3 in 5 millennials say their financial image doesn’t match reality

Three in five millennials admit their financial image of themselves doesn’t reflect their financial reality, new research has revealed.

That’s according to a series of three surveys, each polling 2,000 millennials, 500 Gen X and 500 baby boomers. Results revealed that 61% of millennials say there are gaps between how they want to be perceived and how they’re actually doing.

Only one in five millennials (19%) don’t project a financial image at all, compared to 33% of Gen X and 42% of baby boomers.

But this disconnect may have more to do with outdated expectations and mismatched goal posts than a genuine need to hide their financial reality.

Despite being labeled “quiet quitters” with commitment problems, one in three millennials identify with the work they do (31%), compared to 24% of Gen X and 16% of baby boomers.

Another 25% of millennials even identify primarily with their job title or employer, nearly double the amount of Gen X (14%) and more than triple baby boomers (7%).

But that doesn’t necessarily mean that millennials bought into the “grind culture” of previous generations. Instead, a majority (67%) have made financial trade-offs in favor of flexibility.

Spending their money on experiences rather than traditional savings and assets was found to be the top financial trade-off (19%). That was followed by having a side hustle to reduce dependence on just one employer (19%) and choosing to rent their home instead of owning it for mobility purposes (16%).

Three in five millennials have also replaced the traditional “career ladder” and are instead focusing on skills over titles (33%), creating something of their own (32%) or even prioritizing flexibility and autonomy over advancement (29%).

Conducted by Talker Research on behalf of financial technology company Chime (https://chime.talkerresearch.report/chime-millennial-money-report.html), the surveys unveiled the Millennial Money Report, aiming to redefine the generation that’s been told they’re behind, bad with money and have everything handed to them.

According to the results, none of those statements are true. Nearly half of millennials (49%) say they’re better off financially today than they were five years ago, more than the older generations.

Nearly two in five taught themselves how health insurance actually works or how to do their own taxes (both 39%) with zero help.

In fact, the vast majority of millennials (82%) use at least one tool or resource to manage their money, while that number decreases for Gen X (63%) and baby boomers (64%).

“The truth is, millennials have been measured against a financial playbook that was written for a completely different economy,” said Brittney Castro, Chime’s in-house CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER. “When you look at the data, this generation is not behind. They taught themselves how to navigate health insurance, they manage their money with more tools than any generation before them, and more than half say they are better off than they were five years ago. That is not a generation that is struggling. That is a generation that figured it out on their own terms and continue to do so.”

Millennials are also rewriting the playbook on what is considered a necessity. Almost seven in 10 (69%) have made a financial trade-off to fund a trip or experience, nearly double the number of baby boomers (39%).

For some, that means cutting spending in other areas (25%), though others take that a step further and have taken on extra work specifically to fund a trip (21%) or even chosen a less expensive living situation to free up funds (19%).

In fact, 23% of millennials describe spending on travel and experiences as a priority and budget for it the same way they do other financial goals; only 12% of baby boomers do the same. Another 15% of millennials define this spending as an investment in their happiness, relationships, memories and who they are.

On an even larger scale, the vast majority of millennials had a financial mindset shift in their 30s (84%). These shifts include everything from realizing financial progress is unique to everyone (22%), measuring against their own goals rather than everyone else’s (20%) or even making peace with where they’re at (18%).

“What I find really significant is that this is not one generation with one financial story. Millennials who came of age during the 2008 recession built their financial habits around survival: 39% took on extra work because one income was not enough. The younger half of the generation grew up in a different economy and is more likely to see renting as freedom and travel as a necessity,” said Castro. “But both groups landed in the same place: 84% had a genuine financial mindset shift in their 30s. They stopped measuring themselves against a timeline that was never built for their reality and started defining progress on their own terms. That is not a generation giving up. That is a generation recalibrating, and the data shows it is working.”