Avocado Toast

You might have noticed last week the fifteen minutes of Internet furor that arose following the comments made by Tim Gurner, a 35 year-old Australian millionaire. Tim Gurner appeared on an Australian television program, and when asked why so few Millennials are yet to buy homes or property he placed the blame on wasteful spending, specifically calling out the expensive coffee drinks and avocado toast that Australian Millennials have a fondness for. As you can imagine, these remarks triggered a fair amount of Internet backlash, with people bringing out many other factors holding Millennials back economically, such as the lack of high-paying blue-collar jobs, massive student debt burdens, the amount of money required to purchase homes in certain regions, and the lack of interest with some Millennials in home ownership. All of these counterarguments have merit, but at the same time none of them fully invalidate Tim Gurner’s claims. Yes, there are a lot of economic barriers that Millennials like myself have to overcome to achieve home ownership, but that doesn’t mean that the way we spend what money we have is a non-factor on our personal economic situation. Tim Gurner is absolutely right in pointing out that struggling Millennials can’t spend absurd amounts of money on overpriced coffee, culinary indulgences like avocado toast, (which apparently is an appetizer that costs about $19) and other unnecessary things and expect to get ahead economically. They can do one or the other, but not both. From my own experience I’d like to suggest to my fellow Millennials that the path of financial prudence and personal responsibility, unpleasant as it may be at times due to the denial of enjoyable but wasteful things, is the far better option in life—at least until you get your financial house in order. Once that’s done, then you can enjoy your avocado toast knowing that you’re not screwing yourself over.