Recently, another contributor to hurting millennials' chances and opportunities for home buying has come to my attention.
The particular entity I'm referring to are bachelor/ette parties.
According to statistics from the wedding website, theknot.com, a individual spends an average of $1,532 on just ONE bachelor between partying, travel, and lodging. As for bachelorette parties, that number is $1,106. Yeah, it's still a lot so don't give yourself a pat on the back or anything!
We’ll put some much deserved emphasis on travel and lodging. According to the same statistics, when taking out travel and lodging cost, the average cost goes down to $738 and $472 respectively.
So what does that tell us right there? The more local the party festivities, the cheaper it was for everyone. As you can clearly see, travel and lodging contributes to over half the cost in both cases.
Despite how much more money you'll spend with travel and lodge, that may not be enough to stop some from spending that extra money. Actually, it may not stop many given the fact that this article still needs to be written in the first place.
Now an article on cnbc.com mentions that the average American goes to about three weddings per year. After crunching some numbers, attending just three bachelor/rette parties would set you back about $4596/$3318.
Yeah, that's kind of a lot of money! Just looking at those figures legitimately makes me pretty fearful of bachelor parties. Your bank account will taking a huge hit.
On top of that, what if you still have college loan debt, children, or any other expenses?
Many of the articles I looked up that also discussed this topic used a number crunching example of attending 9 pre-wedding blowouts per year. Multiply (if you dare) $1,532/$1,106 by 9 and you find yourself throwing back around $13,788/$9954 a year.
As far as this affecting your buying a home, it's clear as day that will.
Staying on the topic of weddings and your budget, bachelor and bachelorette parties aren't the only thing you'll be dropping a ton of dough on.
Statistics report that the average amount of money spent by those who are in the wedding is around $1,154. Those who are just guests still spend an average of $888. Most of these expenses goes toward attire, gifts, and travel.
So what's the point this study is trying to make?
That you basically have a choice to make between budgeting or going to bachelor/rette parties? Millennials are the worst and don't have their financial priorities straight?
Perhaps both!
Statistics on moneyish.com say that 60% of millennials spend more than $4 on a cup of coffee (you could basically also phrase it as “60% of millennials go to Starbucks”). 60% also spend money on clothes they don't need, which may I add is a terrific way to waste money and build up credit card debt.
The same article also goes way out of its way to mention that these numbers were far lower for generation Xers and baby boomers, coming in at 29% and 15%!
I think it's safe to say they deserve a massive round of applause for their hard work and effort!
Well, at least it seems like they think so.
As for millennials, I believe the overall take away from this study is to prioritize their finances and decide how important things, such as buying a house, are to them. Of course, there's nothing wrong with choosing to live with your parents for who knows how long and empty out your bank account overpaying for coffee and going all out at bachelor/rette parties.
At the end of the day, this is actually very much like choosing between McDonald's and Burger King; it comes down to personal preference.
