04 Sep Eat Avocado Toast Or Buy A Home…Is It That Big Of A Deal?

So avocado toast is a thing and millennials seem to love anything avocado, which is unfortunate from the standpoint of how expensive it is. I can’t even get a splash of guac on my taco without it costing almost as much as the actual taco.

But one very ill-informed, out-of-touch blubbering idiot of a financial advisor came out on Twitter and said that if millennials stopped buying avocado toast that they could then afford houses and cool cars and all the things in life we wish we could have but can’t seem to afford for some reason.

So…as a non-avocado toast loving millennial who happens to run a money blog, I did the research and math for you to see if he was right. This is what I found.

Could you buy a home if you gave up avocado toast?

I won’t tease you. The answer is no…and yes.

No, realistically, you couldn’t buy a home if you gave up avocado toast and yes, actually you could if it was one of those tiny homes that cost like $22,000 that Amazon will ship to you if you have a Prime membership (but then where do you put said home?)

Okay, that was a tiny bit of tease but you got what you came for! Here’s more detail if you’re interested.

Here’s the breakdown

The average avocado toast is running about $10 in the United States. There are two factors that go into play here. The average cost of avocado toast and the median home average for where you live. The second factor is WAY more important to this calculation since the variable between buying a home in New York City versus Biloxi, MS is like the difference between peeing IN the pool and peeing INTO the pool.

So here are calculations for different locations in the United States and London for how many avocado toasts it would take to save a 20% down payment on median priced real estate (according to Zillow) in these areas…

New York City, NY

• Median home price – $606,726
• Avocado toast – $10
• Avocado toasts to down payment – 12,135 toasts or buying 1 toast per day for 33.2 years

Biloxi, MS

• Median home price – $138,600
• Avocado toast – $10
• Avocado toasts to down payment – 2,772 toasts or buying 1 toast per day for 7.59 years

London, UK

• Median home price – $857,493
• Avocado toast – $7 (it’s cheaper across the pond)
• Avocado toasts to down payment – 24,499 toasts or buying 1 toast per day for 67.1 years

Dallas, TX

• Median home price – $212,200
• Avocado toast – $10
• Avocado toasts to down payment – 4,244 toasts or buying 1 toast per day for 11.6 years

The epic conclusion

I think the younger generation is getting bored of being blamed for so much when these policies were made well before our home-buying years. The gentleman that made this statement (and stirred the online outrage of some pretty funny memes as retaliation) is woefully disconnected with the reality facing Millennials and soon to be Gen Z.

Maybe we should look at the fact that millennials have gone through not one but TWO major recessions in their not so long lives (the oldest millennial is about 38). Then there’s that whole thing about how we are graduating with higher student loan debt than any generation in history thanks to college rising 250% in the past 20 years (outpacing healthcare which is also super expensive).

So anyway, while I must warn my fellow millennials and Gen Zers that brunch and breakfast can be budget killers if you do it regularly, I don’t see anything wrong with splurging from time to time on some delicious, green, wrinkly-pear-shaped food if you want.

Because from where I’m standing, it won’t cost you getting a house.