Fed Working Paper: "Are Millennials Different?" (and why 'news for millenials' plays never panned out)

Yes they are different.
They apparently don't have can openers.
More after the jump.

From the Divisions of Research & Statistics and Monetary Affairs, Federal Reserve Board, Washington, D.C.:
November 2018

Abstract

The economic wellbeing of the millennial generation, which entered its working-age years around the time of the 2007-09 recession, has received considerable attention from economists and the popular press. This chapter compares the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of millennials with those of earlier generations and compares their income, saving, and consumption expenditures. Relative to members of earlier generations, millennials are more racially diverse, more educated, and more likely to have deferred marriage; these comparisons are continuations of longer-run trends in the population. Millennials are less well off than members of earlier generations when they were young, with lower earnings, fewer assets, and less wealth. For debt, millennials hold levels similar to those of Generation X and more than those of the baby boomers. Conditional on their age and other factors, millennials do not appear to have preferences for consumption that differ significantly from those of earlier generations. 

HT: today's FT Alphaville Further Reading post.

Well that should put the brakes on some of those "Things Millenials Are Wrecking" stories:

Bustle
11 Things Millennials "Ruined"
BuzzFeed
29 Things Millennials Killed This Year
Mashable
11 things millennials ruined

Now, about those can openers, from the Wall Street Journal, Dec. 2:

The Trouble With Tuna: ‘A Lot of Millennials Don’t Even Own Can Openers’
StarKist, Bumble Bee and Chicken of the Sea deal with slumping market amid competition from fresher options

And speaking of Bustle, BuzzFeed and Mashable here's Digiday:

Why ‘news for millennials’ media plays never panned out

We'll have more on that later today.