This week’s How to Cover Money podcast discussed reporting on millennials and money. Graduate assistant and student of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication Rian Bosse, a millennial himself, joined the podcast as a guest.
Bosse reports on Millennials and Money for the Reynolds Center.
In his reporting, he’s come across several themes:
One of the key major purchases that millennials are making is technology. Technology helps them start businesses and follow interests they may have.
Millennials want to live in urban city centers, but also want to live in cheaper places where they can work jobs they love to help improve those city centers.
One trend Bosse noted was how millennials are paying for higher education, a trend he reported on in Corinthian 15 and in a piece about Stanford University offering free tuition for its middle-class students.
Bosse also wrote a series about Millennial Entrepreneurs who have made careers out of their passions. This generation is eager to do things that are creative, Bosse said. The Etsy IPO shows there is a market place for Millennials to get creative and sell what they make to a large market.
Bosse offered several tips on covering Millennials:
- Millennials aren’t a strange generation, and have a lot more in common with other generations than you would think. Look for the ways in which they’re trying to accomplish the same things–housing, education, family and finances.
- Go out into the field and be sure to include millennials in your coverage.
- Many millennials are starting businesses that express them and their passions. Seek out millennial entrepreneurs to interview.
