Living within one's means is more challenging than many people would care to admit.
Indeed, with housing costs continuing to skyrocket, grocery stores upping their prices, and the job market the way it is, far too many people cry happy tears to see their bank account balance increase, or even remain stagnant.
Still, if you ask Kevin O'Leary, the Canadian entrepreneur who achieved a whole new level of fame and fortune as one of the judges on ABC's Shark Tank (as well as its Canadian predecessor, Dragon's Den), far too many Gen Zers (those born between 1997 and 2012) are wasting their money on one thing:
Lunch.
During an appearance on the podcast The Diary of A CEO, O'Leary, who has gone on to earn the somewhat ironic nickname "Mr. Wonderful" owing to his blunt personality on Shark Tank, expressed how the amount of money Gen Z spends on lunch these days is "stupid":
You can here his analysis in the video below:
"I can't stand it when I see kids that are making $70 grand a year spending $28 for lunch."
"I mean, that's just stupid".
"Think about that in the context of that being put into an index and making eight to ten percent a year for the next fifty years."
O'Leary shared a similar sentiment in a separate interview, bemoaning that people also spend too much on coffee, and how bringing food from home could help people save significantly:
"Stop buying coffee for five dollars and fifty cents."
"I can walk around with anybody for a day and show you that they're wasting 15 percent of their money, sometimes 20, on stupid stuff."
"You know, you go to work, you spend $15 on a sandwich, what are you, an idiot?"
"It costs you 99 cents to make a sandwich at home and bring it with you."
"So what if you bring it with you?"
"Bring your own water if you have to, or your own drink, or your own coffee mug."
"You start to add that up every day, it's a ton of money."
"Most people, particularly working in metropolitan cities that are just starting out on their job making their first 60 thousand p*ss away about 15 thousand a year on stupid stuff."
"And thats what they should stop doing."
Many felt O'Leary's remarks were out of touch and ill-informed, feeling it was not Gen Zers spending too much money, but rather the rising cost of food that was the problem, with some pointing out the exorbitant prices he charges in his Toronto restaurant, Blue Bovine Steak + Sushi House.
As one might expect, O'Leary's remarks were met with a somewhat divided reaction on X (formerly Twitter).
Others grudgingly agreed with O'Leary on this one, feeling that living within one's means isn't so challenging, and the majority of people just weren't making an effort:
Kevin O'Leary is literally paid to judge people on Shark Tank.
Before he rushes to judgment on this matter, however, he might want to take a step back, and think about inflation, and observe the latest prices at a supermarket. It's very easy to judge the way people spend their money when you never need to worry about that yourself.
You can watch O'Leary's full interview on The Diary of a CEO here:
- YouTubeyoutu.be
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