Retirees have increased spending on everything from insurance to travel while Millennials and Gen Z are pulling back on essentials as cost-of-living pressures continue to disproportionately affect younger households.
“What we’re seeing now is younger people are cutting back, not just their discretionary spending, but also their essential spending,” he said. At the other end of the spectrum, older Australians increased their spending in all categories, except charities.“Insurance, medical and utilities are some of the really key categories for older people, and they have seen significant rises in them,” Tubman said.
“Some of the older generation aren’t facing those same pressures that younger people are facing, and so despite the fact they may or may not like the fact that those costs have gone up, they have the means to lean into them,” he said. About 162,000 people rejoined the workforce in 2022-23 after retiring. KPMG urban economist Terry Rawnsley said the proportion of retirees picking up work again for financial reasons was easing, from 32 per cent in 2019-20 to 29 per cent in the current year.
Overall, Australians increased spending by 2.5 per cent in the first three months of this year compared with the same period last year, while inflation rose by 3.6 per cent.