USA: Post-Coronavirus…YOLO – Savings…Dead Long Live…Dolce Vita

Ariel Vinson wasn't traveling much before the pandemic. Now he can't stop.

The 28-year-old writer leaves her Dallas apartment every chance she gets: to see Beyoncé in Atlanta, Asher in Chicago, and girls' trips to Jamaica and Mexico. When a favorite artist announces new tour dates, Vinson begins gathering her friends and obtaining tickets, flights, and hotel rooms for her next trip.

“My mentality has completely changed after Covid-19: When I see something I want to do, I make it happen,” she said, adding that her new priorities require some financial rearrangements. “Now I want to travel and go to shows.” He tells the Washington Post.

The pandemic has changed the way of thinking

Whatever you call it — fizzle spending, frugal saving, or YOLOing (you only live once) — the coronavirus pandemic has changed the way Americans spend their money.

They save less but take more vacations, spend money on concerts and sporting events, and book luxury trips. Spending on international travel and live entertainment grew by about 30% last year, five times the growth rate in overall spending.

Americans plan trips like there's no tomorrow

On Thursday, economists learned that consumer spending also helped push economic growth higher in late 2023, to 3.4% — making the second half of 2023 the strongest since 2014, excluding the pandemic years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

What was happening in the Great Depression? It is not related to!

Just as the Great Recession led to decades of austerity and austerity — with an entire generation reusing plastic bags, jam jars and tin foil — there are signs that the coronavirus crisis has had the opposite effect: It has pushed Americans to spend more, especially on experiences. .

“When you experience a crisis, it becomes embedded in your mind,” said Ulrike Malmendier, a professor of behavioral finance at the University of California, Berkeley. “Official economic reports may say that everything is back to normal, but we are a different people than we were before the pandemic.”

Malmander said economic shocks have repeatedly reshaped the way people think about money. The “Children of the Depression,” those who came of age after the stock market crash of 1929, were skeptical of banks and financial markets. Unemployed people are often cautious about spending long after finding another job. After the 2008 financial crisis, Americans began saving more than their paychecks to protect themselves from another massive recession.

A different legacy

But unlike those financial crises, which pushed people out of work, the coronavirus pandemic has left a very different legacy.

“The negative effects of the coronavirus were not necessarily economic. People quickly found work and the government intervened with support,” Malmandir said. “Instead, it's about all the things we were starving for: human interaction, socializing, travel. People are spending their money on the things they miss the most.”

Carolyn McClanahan, a financial advisor in Jacksonville, Florida, sees this firsthand. She said her clients are generally saving less than they were before the pandemic.

“I just realized that if something suddenly went wrong, I would regret not traveling as much as I could.”

Instead of just planning for retirement, they focus on “maximizing life now” to make room for more travel, concerts, and fun.

“People already had this attitude that you only live once. “Coronavirus has been a big wake-up call that life is precious, so you have to enjoy it now.”

“I was an obsessive saver.”

In Seattle, Mike Lee's free time is a whirlwind of comedy shows, concerts, hockey games and weekend trips. The software developer, who divorced early in the pandemic, recounted his experiences much earlier: Hawaii in April, a Foo Fighters concert in August.

“It changed the way I live my life,” the 40-year-old said. “I used to save obsessively, almost to a fault, but I'm learning to get out and enjoy life a little more.”

But it's not wasted across the board. Lee still drives a 20-year-old Toyota Corolla, and has cut his spending on restaurants in half. Instead, he fills his refrigerator with noodle soup, chicken wings and other junk food for the nights he doesn't feel like cooking.

“13 cruises in 17 months”

Michael Sheridan, who lives in Clearwater, Florida, has taken 13 cruises in 17 months.

The 58-year-old, who once owned two Outback Steakhouses, enjoys a steady income. He receives $2,400 a month from Social Security Disability Due to a rare genetic disorder that forced him to stop working a decade ago. Sheridan relies on a wheelchair to get around, but says he's fortunate financially: His mother, who died in 2020, left him enough money to buy a $109,000 apartment.

Now his monthly checks go toward homeowners association fees ($350), phone bills ($40), shopping ($250) — and travel. He is now in Japan and heading to Seattle in April, the Caribbean in June, and Switzerland in July.

“The pandemic has definitely heightened travel addiction,” he said, adding that he rushed to take advantage of cheap airfare and hotels during the early lockdowns. “I just realized that if something suddenly went wrong, I would regret not traveling as much as I could.”