Millennials are an interesting generation. We face many of the same life hurdles and struggles as generations before us, but also some interesting other ones. Challenges like the skyrocketing cost of education and housing and the increasing uncertainty of the labour market have led to many millennials redefining what luxury looks like to them.

I think that, once upon a time, living in luxury meant a massive house, fancy car and so on. This is the dream on which society raised my generation. As we entered the workforce though, we quickly realized that achieving this dream was going to be a LOT tougher than we anticipated.

So what do you do in a situation like that? You hit the reset button on your expectations. Draw up a new plan for what luxury means to you. Here’s what mine looks like.

Small Space, Quality Stuff

Screw the massive house. A house that cost $600,000 five years ago costs well over $1.5 million now, if you’re looking in my neck of the woods. That’s a ridiculous amount of money to lay down before you even furnish the place. And don’t forget the ongoing cost of taxes and utilities. Who wants to be house-rich but cash-poor? Then there’s the effort required to maintain a huge house – the cleaning, the shoveling of the driveway, and so on. There’s this whole vicious circle of increasing costs that come with a larger home.

So what can you do if you want luxury, but can’t afford it in that way? Well, here’s where we come up on this interesting intersection between luxury and minimalism. As you probably know, I’m actively trying to shift where I spend my disposable income away from material stuff and into experiences. Now that doesn’t mean I don’t buy things. But living in a smaller home forces you to limit what you purchase. Because where the heck are you going to store it all?

Minimalist luxury is the way to go in my view – pick only things that are built to last and bring you joy to use/wear/admire, and leave the rest behind. You don’t have to swear off material possessions to live a minimalist lifestyle… you just need to have a very clear view of what makes you most happy, and ditch the rest.

Shift to Experiences

Like I said above, I’m trying to spend less on things, and more on experiences. Seeing amazing places and doing amazing things with those you care about gives you stories and memories that will last a lifetime. They are the ingredients of a happy and fulfilling life lived with no regrets.

You ever get to a place where you have nothing new to talk about with the people around you? Yeah, that’s probably because you haven’t done anything worth telling people about recently. Get out there and have some experiences! And don’t be afraid to spend what you can afford to make the most of a trip. That’s my philosophy, anyway. If I’m going to drop major coin to visit a place (and probably visit it only once), I’m going to make sure I do it exactly the way I want to.

Wrapping it Up

At the start of this post, I talked about a number of unique challenges facing millennials and subsequent generations that are forcing us to redefine what luxury means to us. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not playing the victim; I don’t feel bad for my generation. We’re playing in different circumstances, not necessarily worse. We didn’t live through any world wars, or the Great Depression, or anything like that, and we’re very lucky in that regard.

Those different rules of the game have led to many millennials pursuing luxury in a way that still allows us to live below our means… because we know that in today’s more uncertain job market, it could all be gone tomorrow. So saving for a rainy day and retirement will always take precedence over having granite countertops, heated floors and a Mercedes in the driveway (and I’m not the only one in my generation thinking that way – here’s proof).

Less, smaller, better stuff, and more, deeper experiences. That’s luxury to me today.

How about you? What’s your definition of luxury? Is it about the house, the things, the experiences or some combination of them all? Do you need a big space to live luxuriously? Share your thoughts in the comments section!