26-year-old 'echo boomers' are running wild in America — here's what they're all about

Millennials having fun

By last count, there were 4.6 million 26-year-olds in America.

That's more than any other age group in the country.

Torsten Slok, an economist at Deutsche Bank and the author of a new report on these echo boomers (or millennials or Gen-Yers, whichever you prefer), believes their widespread presence matters a great deal.

Just as baby boomers began spending like crazy in 1980s and 1990s, today's 20-somethings are poised to do the same in the mid-2020s.

"What's important from a broader perspective is they're about to get married and have children within the next five years," Slok says.

Marriage and family aren't the only characteristics that define echo boomers, who were born roughly between 1985 and 1995. Many of them grew up with financial constraints that have affected where they live, what they buy, and how they feel about important issues.

Here's what America's largest generation is all about.

What they're buying

Echo boomers are far more likely to buy items for their value, not their convenience, a recent Goldman Sachs analysis found.

They aren't as impulsive with their shopping, and are far more likely to stick to a budget for big-ticket purchases — such as saving up for a pricey pair of durable boots over buying a cheaper pair every winter.

They also tend to favor buying experiences over material goods. Instead of collecting things that can gather dust, the group largely prefers to collect memories or stories.

How they're buying it

In many cases, millennials aren't driving to a physical store to pay for things in-person; they're saving their credit card information in their internet browser's keychain.

Just about every age group is engaging in e-commerce, but digital-native young people are still the only group doing the majority of their shopping online.

One 2016 report found the majority of that shopping isn't even done on a computer. Some 67% of millennials use their smartphone to check prices across different retailers, and an additional 64% primarily use their phones, not PCs or tablets, to search for coupons.

What they don't buy

Though Slok says echo boomers are moving toward starting families, many are still saddled with too much debt to even think about buying homes or cars. As a result, ownership in general has become less important to people in their 20s.

"Instead of having an ownership society, we now have a rental or leasing society," Slok says. "You still drive a car and live somewhere, but it's in a very different way relative to what your parents did."

Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, and countless other sharing-based services highlight how ingrained the anti-ownership attitude has become.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider