Living within limits, not an outdated lifestyle
In the past 20 years, mainstream views have been encouraging ahead of consumption and borrowing.
The most famous is the section of the old lady in the United States and the old lady in China. The old lady of the United States borrowed a house to buy a house. She paid off her loan before she died. She lived in a good house for a lifetime and enjoyed her life. But when the old lady of China died, she had enough money to buy a house, and she died when she couldn’t enjoy it.
However, it should be noted that housing is just needed, and housing prices are so high that it is impossible to not borrow. In the context of such high leverage, in terms of other consumption, Chinese young people may indeed need to consider more rational consumption and living within their means.
An important reason to dare to spend money is the optimistic expectation of the future. Xinhua News Agency's survey of about 10,000 consumers in 44 cities across the country in 2017 showed that about 80% of respondents believe that household income will increase significantly in the next five years.
However, as economic uncertainty increases, it is not impossible to slow or even stagnate income growth. For example, there is a "22K phenomenon" in Taiwan, China. It is said that NT$22,000 has become a market price for companies to introduce fresh people to the workplace. The starting salary has been "starting". "22K" has also become synonymous with young people's low salary.
Even if you are in middle age, you may face crisis such as layoffs and unemployment. In the past two years, in some forums, the most direct incident of “middle-age anxiety” was that people were laid off in middle age and they were highly leveraged to buy a house.
Therefore, saving more for the future is not a bad thing. In particular, social welfare and security are not perfect. Children's education, parents' health, and future pensions all need to be supported by real money.
Even Westerners who have been spending ahead of their time are rethinking. The economic crisis and the collapse of the bubble caused by excessively advanced consumption have made their consumption outlook increasingly conservative. In a survey of young people in the United States, 60% of respondents did not have a single product that cost more than $2,000, and more than half spent less than $500 on electronics. Even the largest student credit in US consumer credit, the main direction is to assist in the completion of school, not material consumption.
Controlling leverage and rational planning are a lesson that Chinese young people must make up.