Do Old People Spend More Than Youths?

[MorganMatthews]

No I don't think so. The youths are the ones who spend more. This is because at the youth stage of life, that is when people will like to live to fullest. For example going to parties, adventures etc. But at the old age have less to spend other than the bills and maintenance costs (which the youths spend on too)

[crispreviews]

Personaly, I don't think the older people spend more money than the youth, but obviously the older would spend more on health, and not all spend on health. But they would surely be cut down on expenses for them in terms of taking care of their children, since they would be all grown, a few expenditure that might come from gas purchase, as they won't go out often with a car. So appart from the fact the spend on their health I don't think they spend more.

[Johulings]

I think it largely depends on how someone was raised. Were they part of a family that splurged all the time or part of a family that was just getting by in life. Did they have good jobs that made it possible to spend extra money. It all depends on every individual and their circumstances. I don't believe any one age spends more than another.

[Hyacinth Bella]

I think older people spend less when it comes to youth if we are talking about squandering, like going to restaurants, partying, drinking, or buying clothes. But when it comes to maybe hospital bills, and maintenance medication, I think older people spend more. An explanation I have for this is older people mostly experienced a lot of life already, and most of them do not need or want any more luxuries in life.

[Laura Weber]

Well, I agree with most of the opinions: it depends, one cannot generalize. But as a member of the quite old population in a country with many economic problems, I believe that old people that are not in the limit of misery, if they have been prudent and sober during their youth and while raising kids, paying loans, et cetera, probably they have been able to save, and in spite of the health problems that always come to old age, they spend more in less but more expensive things: travels, good clothing, very good concerts or theater plays that years ago they watched in the TV, perhaps not many dinners in fancy restaurants, or no noisy parties at home, but smaller getting together with very good food and drinks.
And when one can, one spends money in charities. This is a must. And is money!

[Stellah Chege]

This question is relative. All factors constant, I believe it can be either way. However, during one's youthful years, there are a lot of expenses from housing to wanting to raise the standard of living at a certain level. At old age, most people are content and don't feel the need to spend to fill voids as opposed to young age

[Emmanuel Okotie]

Personally, I do not think old people would ever spend more in their old age more than their youthful age. Old age is usually when there is a decline in their responsibilities and burdens. Unlike the youth, the old person doesn't have much responsibilities.

[clumsy smurf]

I think the youth is spending more because we have a lot of stuff we can buy. There are new trends every single day and hour. So it's easy for us to spend on useless stuff. Old people don't have trends, they have already gone through life and all they do is just sit home and enjoy their retirement. So the youth spends a lot.

[NancyDrew12]

I think old people might spend less than youths. I think youths tend to throw money away on a lot of frivolous things while the old sometimes tend to be past those stages. But you also have to take into account the old that still do that. So the spending habits between the both could be pretty equal.

[Mathapelo Senye]

Old people don't spend like youth they save more for their children education and legacy while young people spend a lot because they now have pressure from the society and the social media life they want to be famous and to always trend some happen to live a fake life because they are do it for the content not for themselves.

[Alexandur Gicov]

One of the reasons this is a common practice may be that it can cover some of the things of old age like medications and treatments. On the other hand, a retired person will have the opportunity to enjoy the rest of their life financially independent, as there is no longer an option to start working. In this line of thought, I think that retired people spend less than young people.

[MY GIGI]

I think as youths tend to spend what they don't have actually they spend more, but an old person's spending is to invest for retirement together with family expenses, while at this time resources are available to be spent.

[Hager Salem]

I don't think it's about more spending, it's about planning for the future where there would be no source of income. Whether someone spends more or less would depend on the person and his lifestyle.

[Peggs5]

That is too broad of a question. If you take an elderly person who is rich and a poor youth, the elderly will obviously spend more because they have the funds to do so. Same for vice versa. However, if you take elderly and youth in the same income bracket, again, it's hard to say. The elderly who were smart and saved might be more willing to go on vacations and have fun while the youth is busy working; or the youth might be living life and enjoying having the energy to do things and then when they're older take things more slowly.

[joshfee77]

The book is about planning for retirement. Given that people are advised to start saving for their old ages at a young age, do you think that at that time is when they will spend more than what they spent now?

Some old people may spend more than they did at a young age - I guess it depends on how well they have set themselves up for retirement and how they apply the wisdom they have gained over the years. I know of an elderly couple who were very well set up for retirement (basically wealthy) yet they pretty much lived off the interest of their retirement savings in order to further benefit their children when they passed away - very unselfish. But everyone is different. It comes down to individual circumstances and what they have learned from life. Generally, I would say young people are more impetuous with money and more likely to spend it without thinking about the long-term consequences.