{"id":947961,"date":"2026-10-31T20:16:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T20:16:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/947961\/"},"modified":"2026-10-31T20:16:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T20:16:16","slug":"were-doomed-anyway-young-people-disheartened-about-the-future-are-splashing-out-on-the-present-australian-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/947961\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We\u2019re doomed anyway\u2019: young people disheartened about the future are splashing out on the present | Australian economy"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Tran treats herself to experiences like concerts and movie tickets.<\/p>\n

The 21-year-old Sydney law student, who is working towards paying her tuition fees, says many of her friends spend their spare money on matcha, Labubu toys and trending makeup items.<\/p>\n

Tran, who moved from Vietnam two years ago, says she appreciates what she has in Australia but can understand why young people like her are concerned about the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel like we\u2019re doomed anyway so why should we save?\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Young people feeling disheartened about the economy are choosing to spend their money in the present \u2013 regularly buying \u201clittle treats\u201d such as takeaway coffees or even \u201cdoomspending\u201d if it feels like there\u2019s no point saving for the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we believe in the future, we are much more likely to be able to defer gratification in the pursuit of it,\u201d says brand strategist Eugene Healey.<\/p>\n

Healey says \u201clittle treat\u201d culture \u2013 a pattern of consumer behaviour where people, especially younger people, buy \u201caffordable, everyday luxuries\u201d like matcha or lunch \u2013 has come about because traditional milestones feel out of reach.<\/p>\n

The rationale works like this: buying an $8 matcha five days a week for 48 weeks works out to $1,920 a year.<\/p>\n

Even if you saved that money, the median house price in Australia\u2019s capital cities combined is now $1,103,201 and the median unit price $738,778, according to Cotality research published this month.<\/p>\n

Saving $40 a week and not getting to have a matcha during the work day may not seem worth it if even a 10% deposit feels out of reach and future job security is uncertain \u2013 especially amid the disruption to white collar industries caused by AI.<\/p>\n

Housing affordability has reached its worst on record, according to the Housing<\/a> Industry Association, as rising borrowing costs have eclipsed the recent retreat in prices. The average homebuyer nationally needs to save more than eight years for a deposit, and more than nine years in Sydney.<\/p>\n

A recent report from realestate.com.au found that a typical household earning $125,000 a year could only afford 12% of the homes for sale across the country \u2013 also a historical low with the previous low watermark being 14% in 2008.<\/p>\n

Australians on lower incomes are virtually shut out of the market. The analysis showed that a household earning $76,000 could afford just 2% of homes on the market.<\/p>\n

Dire housing affordability and the high cost of living are pushing people towards \u2018doomspending\u2019. Photograph: Asanka Ratnayake\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, workers\u2019 wages have barely kept up with inflation since cost of living exploded from 2022, making it harder to save.<\/p>\n

Healey says the social contract, that working hard and saving for the future ensured you would get ahead, has broken down.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only are you paying into the system with superannuation, but there is no guarantee now that if you do well in school, get a relatively good job [and] accrue university debt, that you\u2019re going to be able to enjoy \u2026 even a fraction of the prosperity that previous generations took for granted,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/p>\n

Healey says doomspending is \u201cperhaps a more advanced version or symptom of the same underlying feeling\u201d.<\/p>\n

Cambridge dictionary, which began tracking the word last year, defines doomspending as spending money that you cannot afford in order to make yourself feel better, which people sometimes engage in when they feel anxious and uncertain about the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not merely just, \u2018Oh, things are a little expensive here and there [and] the major things are expensive. I deserve a little treat,\u2019\u201d Healey says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIts a quite significant paradigm shift [to]: \u2018I don\u2019t believe in what the future is going to look like any more \u2026 It\u2019s much more rational for me to spend that money in the present and to enjoy what I have in front of me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Terry Rawnsley, a senior economist at KPMG, says it is a \u201cperfectly rational decision\u201d to spend money on things that make you happy now, when the alternative \u2013 buying a home in the future \u2013 is unattainable.<\/p>\n

Rawnsely says this phenomenon isn\u2019t just evident among early 20-year-olds, but also for some millennials in their 30s who have found that \u201cthings haven\u2019t worked out for them as it has for previous generations, and so they are having a different mix of priorities in their lives\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is where superannuation has probably given people a financial safety net when they retire, as it was designed to do so,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Kayshini Logeswaran, 28, a business analyst in Sydney, says she has a \u201cgood, stable job\u201d but saving up for big things like overseas holidays still feels out of reach.<\/p>\n

Logeswaran says companies\u2019 shifting of roles to AI and general cost-of-living pressures are making her more fearful of the future.<\/p>\n

She considers indulging in some little treats worth it if they make her feel good in the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever I go out or go for a walk I always make sure I get my favourite coffee: it\u2019s something that keeps me happy and sane,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Tran treats herself to experiences like concerts and movie tickets. The 21-year-old Sydney law student, who is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":947962,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[64,63,105],"class_list":["post-947961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/947961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=947961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/947961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/947962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=947961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=947961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=947961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}