Frugal Living Likely to Endure, Young Generation Increasingly Financially Aware

JAKARTA — Indonesian anthropologist Prof. Dr. Semiarto Aji Purwanto assesses that the trend of frugal living, or a thrifty lifestyle, has the potential to endure in the long term alongside increasing financial awareness and selective consumption patterns among the young generation. According to Semiarto, the current trend of frugal living can indeed change following the rapid developments in lifestyle and aesthetics. “If now this is perhaps still a short-term trend because we live in a world with very rapid changes,” said Semiarto on Friday (8/5/2026). Nevertheless, he believes that the principles of frugal living and more rational consumption are likely to persist because the young generation is increasingly aware of the importance of financial management. “Our financial awareness is getting higher. Awareness to save and do budgeting,” he stated. He explained that this condition is influenced by work patterns based on the gig economy, which make the income of the young generation tend to be unstable. “We live in a gig-based economy context. Sometimes we have quite a lot of money, but sometimes it’s empty,” he said. Therefore, according to him, the young generation is now increasingly selective in determining spending priorities and prioritises experiences over asset ownership. “The priority now is indeed not on ownership, but on experiences and well-being,” said Semiarto. He assesses that the need for comfort is now also increasingly flexible because many services allow people to enjoy certain facilities without having to own them permanently.