The other night I saw an ABC TV report by business reporter, Daniel Ziffer. I normally find Mr Ziffer’s work to be both informative and interesting. So when he spoke of a ‘generational divide’ in Australia’s spending habits, I was all ears.
The report was based upon data from the May 2024 Commonwealth Bank Cost of Living Insights research. This report draws from spending patterns of seven million Australians and shows, amongst other findings, the differences between age groups. To cut to the relevant excerpts from the chart below, the report shows a shrinkage in spending for 25-29 year olds by 3.5% (or $2099) over the past 12 months, contrasted with increases for most other age groups, particularly those aged 65-69, which were up by 4.4% (or $3253), peaking at 6.8% (or $2408) for those aged 75+.