Millennials Are Bringing Flexible Freelance Mentality to Their Bank Accounts

Money

Freelance jobs are changing pace and they are allowing Millenials to put their stamp on the world in a whole new way.

A couple decades ago, freelance jobs were few and far between, and they were typically temporary positions without any flexibility or benefits. Nowadays, these jobs offer versatility, time freedom, and the ability to work from anywhere. Instead of being considered only temporary positions, now freelancing is becoming a viable career option.

Both the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Randstad Sourceright, a talent acquiring service, have noted that more Millenials are choosing freelance work as their primary source of income. In Randstad Sourceright’s 2017 Talent Trends study, they found that nearly 30% of company jobs are freelance positions, which agrees with the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ finding that these types of temporary positions are increasing in popularity, unlike anything they have seen before.

This culture of freelancing is also known as the gig economy and represents the now faster pace of America’s workforce. These changes have only been noticed in the past few years and experts believe this is due to the up and coming digital age making it easier and more cost-effective to outsource positions rather than hiring these employees in-house.

This flexibility and the changing definition of the workplace is inspiring Millenials to alter their everyday activities compared to their parents’ generation.

For starters, they are choosing to spend their money in ways that give them the most fulfilling life possible, instead of having the most money in their bank account.

Bank of America recently released their Merril Edge study, which looked at the spending habits of the Millennial generation. They found that Millennials, who are between the ages of 18 and 34 years old, are more likely to spend their money on travel, dining, and gym memberships over building a hefty savings account.

This study looked at more than 1,000 Millennials to find the most popular spending priority. They found that 81% of participants would spend their paycheck on traveling, 65% chose fine dining, and 55% dished out a good amount for their gym membership.

Why are Millennials choosing to ignore their financial future to go out and see the world? Perhaps it has something to do with their flexible freelance schedule in the sense that 60% of Millennials would rather spend their money on experiences than on material things. With this in mind, it comes as no surprise that since Millennials now work in a changing workplace, they are taking full advantage of the flexibility offered to them.

It could be said that Millennials love to travel because they started at a young age. Consider that over one-third of American families say vacations make them the happiest, and this wanderlust mentality could have transferred over to Millennials once they got older.

Not to mention that Bank of America found that more Millennials aren’t worrying too much about preparing for retirement. According to Forbes, retiring is the farthest thing from many Millennials’ minds, which comes in stark contrast to Baby Boomers and Gen-Xers. These generations, on the other hand, are saving what they can in hopes of finally retiring.

So yet again, Millennials are changing the way the world does things simply by freelancing their way through life.

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