I think there is a very good chance this is wind up. And if it is, I don't think it is particularly funny.
If it is not, I'm afraid to say that at least two friends come to mind who resemble the personality that emerges from InDeep's comments.
I'm in my mid 20s, as are the two people in question. Both are male and live at home with their parents in Dublin. One has a stable job with a large multinational. The other is professional who is only starting to make money after years of study.
Although I like both very much, there is this weird delusional/fantasist aspect to both of their personalities when it comes to money. They both spend money as if it was water.And it's not as if they have a lot to show for it - the large part of it goes on socialising.
Having what I regard as a sensible attitude to money (I've rented since moving out of home a couple of years ago and in recent months and have recently managed to buy), I try to impart simple advice to them in a subtle and informal way when money issues crop up. I only do this because I can see that neither of them are anywhere near buying the property they want, let alone rent somewhere decent, and, more particularly, because their spending habits scare the life out of me. However, my boring tips rarely get heard above the brags about the latest bonus or fast buck they have made (one of the two has started to get involved in day trading on the net- v. scary).
Back to the point about under 30s, I have thought about it for a while now, and I'm afraid I'm going to have to come out as a traitor to my age group.
There really is something blase and complacent about the attitude of many of my contemporaries to money, my two friends being the two that come most readily to mind.
Maybe I just have a longer memory than many of my age group but, despite the fact that I wasn't even a teenager at the time, I can remember the down-town Tirana that was Dublin in the late 80s and the extremely modest lifestlye of my family (bog standard middle class).
I love the choice that money brings and I never want to go back to 80s Dublin but the benefit of the memory of it is that I have a healthy vigilance around and respect for money. I think too many of my peer group are in a comfort zone around money such that they treat it as something to play with.. sure there will always be more of it.
I wouldn't urge anyone to become a miser but the lack of regard my friends have for money means that it falls between their fingers such that I know there is a good chance that they will end up as debt-ridden chumps who are still living in their parents' homes in their early 30s. And how sad would that be.