[Graph from Bloomberg Business]. Avocado prices are at a record high. Avocado trees bear fruit in alternate years, with large harvests one year and smaller ones the next. A lighter crop is expected this season from Mexico.Here is Tim Gurner, a 35-year-old real estate mogul in Melbourne, in a 60 minutes interview done in Australia. “When I was trying to buy my first home, I wasn’t buying smashed avocado for $19 and four coffees at $4 each. We’re at a point now where the expectations of younger people are very, very high. They want to eat out every day; they want travel to Europe every year. The people that own homes today worked very, very hard for it. They saved every dollar, did everything they could to get up the property investment ladder.”
His comments may be true to some extent, but were not received well (he says only snippets of the full interview were posted on Twitter). The New York Times also notes in a fact-checking report that the truth is much more complicated –
1. Research suggests that people from 18 to 34 are no more freewheeling with their spending on travel and dining than other generations.
2. Yes, that European vacation is indeed an opportunity for savings, but research suggests millennials are the generation spending the least on travel.
3. The heavy costs of home ownership is not always a prudent financial goal. It is good to ask the thoroughly explore the question whether it is better to rent, or to buy, a home, before taking the plunge.
