Sarah Green Carmichael, Columnist

Doom Spending Is Not Self-Care

The obstacles Gen Z and millennial women face are real. Marketers’ claims that buying more stuff will soothe them is not.

February 8, 2024 at 12:00 PM UTC

By Sarah Green Carmichael

Sarah Green Carmichael is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist and editor. Previously, she was an executive editor at Harvard Business Review.

Think you’re stressed now? Wait until the credit card bill arrives.
Photographer: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg

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Please, don’t dabble in doom spending.

The term, which first bubbled up on social media, has gained steam following a recent survey by Intuit’s Credit Karma. Consider it 2024’s sequel to 2023’s “girl math.” But if girl math was a light-hearted buddy comedy, doom spending is a horror film.