Hochfelder: Why Millennials Don’t Spend on Things but on Experiences?

Instead of buying property and belongings, Millennials, or the Millennial Generation, born between 1980 and 2000, is turning to the “experience economy “or the “economy of happiness”. As New York businessman Adam Hochfelder explains, for them, experiencing something has greater worth than buying a branded handbag. The shift in the consumer’s habits has left a serious mark in the stock market. The last few years have brought an increase in everything related to travel, airline, industry experience, massive festivals, sports championships, restaurants, and cafes, whose tracking indexes in the US and the European stock markets have reached the highest value, after 2011.

Massive festivals embrace every category of electronic dance music, with more than 150 appearances, in 3 days on 4 stages. The latest sound systems, lighting spectacles, and fireworks lead the ultimate journey through the entire spectrum of electronic music. There meet the most beautiful creatures in the world with the best DJ's on the planet, and the atmosphere turns into pure euphoria until the early morning hours.

Unlike their fathers, who in their years were saving for their first car, Millennials prefer to spend an evening in a decent restaurant, a drink in a bar, a trip to a festival or a sporting event, hanging out with friends and exploring exotic places in the world, explains Adam Hochfelder. They do not want to stuff on things like their parents but thrive in the pleasures of life. Instead of buying an apartment, they prefer to rent. They would rather live in urban than in suburban areas, while their parents were basically the founders of suburban life. According to Hochfelder's Twitter, 69 percent of them prefer to spend time on interesting places, in the company of friends and family, rather than sitting at home, 70 percent stated that attending public events is more associated with people, community and the world in general, and 30 percent said that through such events they have met people with whom they have become friends. Generation Y is turning towards the “experience economy” or the “economy of happiness”. To live a meaningful and happy life now involves creating, collecting, sharing with others and recording those experiences.