Recently, the death of YOLO has become a hot dinner table topic — proclaimed as a fact by mainstream media and then tweeted and re-tweeted to the point of a foregone conclusion.  However, like all fake news, the truth differs from the headlines.  Also, like most misinformation, there’s little or no data backing up its premise.

The YOLO (“you only live once”) mindset, a popular mantra for decades, truly came into its own in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.  It’s not just about living in the moment; it’s about embracing life with a sense of joy and liberation.  With their bank accounts bolstered from reduced spending and government stimulus checks, consumers emerged from their pandemic-induced hibernation, ready to seize the day.

Travel, entertainment, and simply dining out, all activities curtailed during the pandemic, boomed once the folly of social distancing and double-masking was unmasked.  Consumers threw money at anything and everything that freed them from their COVID memories.  The economic repercussion of this surge in demand was inflation, but even with higher prices, consumers just kept spending.  YOLO!

That’s not to say there weren’t sectors of the economy that surged during the dark years.  Recreational vehicles, home electronics, and exercise equipment (particularly expensive name brands) went off the charts, as these became substitutes for partying in Las Vegas, attending concerts, and going to the gym.  But this shift has an economic difference — one set of goods lasts, whereas the other becomes just happy memories.  Campers, big-screen TVs, and treadmills purchased during COVID are still in home driveways and basements, so there’s no need to buy more of them.

This is where the “YOLO is dead” crowd gets it wrong, because the devil is in the details.  Although personal consumption expenditures from 2022 to now have increased about seven percent over the past two years, most focus on the decline of specific components to bolster their claim.  Purchases of household goods (think TVs, washers, and dryers) and home recreational equipment (think treadmills) have precipitously declined, and that’s because everybody has already bought them, and they tend to last.

However, living the high life — only living once — means getting out and partying.  Spending on items like eating out, travel, and attending sporting events is booming.  All of these categories are up by double-digits.  Why watch Taylor Swift on TV while sweating on your Peloton when you can see her in person across the field cheering for her boyfriend to score a touchdown?  Why keep washing the same blouse in your COVID-purchased LG machine when you can drop $500 on a new Elie Tahari at Neiman Marcus?

YOLO isn’t dead; the pundits are mistaken.  It’s true that the increase in personal consumption has slowed a bit in recent months, but it still continues to increase.  If the pandemic purchasing of durable goods was the first wave of YOLO, we’re now witnessing a second wave in the form of consumable experiences.  One might even argue it’s YOLT — “you only live twice.”

Regardless of the label, the data show a decline in aggregate personal savings even as wages increase.  People are still spending big!  This consumer behavior of running down savings shows that, as a society, we’re increasingly embracing the present rather than focusing on the future.  Carpe Diem!

Kevin Cochrane is an economist, former senior banking executive, and regularly published national columnist.  He is currently a visiting professor at the University of the West Indies in Barbados and has taught university economics for the past two decades in the United States.

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