When young adults are excited to buy, we don’t kid around.

Economy, prepare for a boost. My birthday is this month. What day? Every day. Forget June. It’s Preston-month.

Ever confident, optimistic, and self-involved, Gen Y spends billions of dollars every year, even in the face of recession (and who wouldn’t, when we are THIS awesome!?).  Consider:

1. Spending per wedding has risen 50% in the last 10 years. Gen Y is approaching the average newlywed age, and we’re ushering in unprecedented money for the walk down the aisle.

2. Gen Y women generally want a fashionable look for less money. Exception: they will save to buy select luxury products, typically designer shoes, purses, etc. In fact, the average Gen Yer is five times as likely as their elders to buy something viewed as prestigious!

3. When Gen Y eats out, we spend 25% more per person and travel with larger groups compared to other generations. In other words, when we hit the town our wallets take the impact.

4. Brace yourself: Gen Y is twice as likely as other generations to say that they are “Born to Shop.” Really. Give us any reason to celebrate and we can justify a little credit card debt.

As an outcome driven generation, Gen Y appreciates the simple clarity created by milestones. Gen X may have invented the 21st Birthday tradition, but Gen Y grew up with kindergarten graduation parties (complete with cap and gown; I still have mine). Key life moments are a reason to celebrate, which helps us feel entitled to spend. Integrate your product or service into the milestone mentality as a powerful way to reach Gen Y. You can start by leaving a birthday message on our Facebook wall.

It’s no secret that we love to digitally document our day to day dealings. We’ve uploaded photos to Facebook at a peak rate of 550,000 images per second (aka enough frames to make over a hundred Lifetime Original movies per minute!). What does this mean for you? Gen Y is drawn to the memory value of products, and we share those memories with our social media following. Our most memorable buying moments (aka photo-ops) include any graduation, first car, first day at college, first ”real” job, moving out of our parent’s house (hopefully not coming back this time), getting married, birth of a child, and purchasing our first home.

Generational Challenge / Opportunity: Gen Y loves firsts. Firsts are like our birthday month. It’s all about us. If you are excited about being a part of our life journey, we will be excited to include you.

What does your business look like in that picture? When I purchased my first car, the dealer took a photo of us (my car and me), and then e-mailed it to me. He also printed a copy and posted it proudly on a wall with dozens of other young (excited looking) first time car buyers. My photo was on Facebook before I left the parking lot. Caption: “I just bought my first car! Woo!” And there, just behind my thumbs-up, was the dealership’s name.