You've probably seen memes about smashed avocado on toast, and its strange powers to prevent young people from buying their first home.

I saw an ad on TV the other day referencing this meme. Some young people were seated in a café. One of the friends said he'd skip the smashed avo on toast because he had to save for a deposit on a house. His economist friend chimed in, sounding very intelligent and saying that actually, being frugal has a limited capacity to affect your financial position or housing situation, as the property market is likely to continue going up. In the end they all decide to eat smashed avo.

The intent of the ad was probably to make people feel better about their own struggles, however, it also sent the message that it was pointless to watch your own small habits, as we are only victims of circumstance, and if we follow the line down, we can't change anything so we may as well just enjoy ourselves while we can. I thought, that's a very irresponsible message to be repeating to young people, if they even still watch TV.

Smashed avo's origin story

The story of avocados vs millenials began when Bernard Salt wrote a piece for The Weekend Australian Magazine, published on October 15th 2016. The piece was poking at himself for being an old whiner, and at the younger generation for trying to exclude him from "hipster cafés". Towards the end of the article, Salt makes a comment, in passing:

"I have seen young people order smashed avocado with crumbled feta on five-grain toasted bread at $22 a pop and more. I can afford to eat this for lunch because I am middle-aged and have raised my family. But how can young people afford to eat like this? Shouldn't they be economising by eating at home? How often are they eating out? Twenty-two dollars several times a week could go towards a deposit on a house."

In the context of this article, Salt's attempt at humour about being an aging complainer, the comment seems pretty innocuous, especially considering the backlash that it received. The article wasn't even about avocado on toast or housing affordability. People made jokes saying "Skipped smashed avocado for breakfast this morning. Excited to buy a house next week."

Tim Gurner, property mogul and sworn enemy of avocados

The debate was exacerbated when property investor Tim Gurner said during an interview with 60 Minutes "when I was buying my first home, I wasn’t buying smashed avocado for 19 bucks and four coffees at $4 each."

People weren't happy about Gurner's comments, but put into context, his greater point was about the value of hard work, sacrifice, and delayed gratification:

“I think until this generation realises that the people that own homes today worked very, very hard for it, saved every dollar, did everything they could to get up the property ladder (they won’t get ahead).

“You might have to buy an investment property first, you might have to share with mum and dad, you might have to buy with a friend, but you’ve got to get your foot in the door and you’ve got to slowly get up the ladder.”

What a difference an avo makes

I wondered, how much difference would it actually make in a person's life if they abstained from smashed avo on toast. I did some back of the envelope calculations, assuming the price of smashed avo as $10 USD to make it simple, if you had bought bitcoin every week for 5 years instead, you would have about $115,000 AUD today - almost enough to buy a studio apartment in Melbourne, and enough for a deposit on many properties in Sydney.

Of course, not everybody knew about Bitcoin. If you, more conservatively, invested those $10 in the S&P500 every week, after 5 years you would have $4500 AUD. It's not a lot compared to a house, but it might be enough to get started in the property market, by buying a parking space. As Gurner said, you've got to start somewhere.

Focus on what you can control

Many people share memes and say to their friends "The market is so terrible, I'll never be able to afford a home." Or worse, they don't even mention it, because they know it's assumed.

Self-talk can easily become self-fulfilling prophecy. What you think and say becomes your reality. When you act as if you'll never be able to buy a house, you don't bother researching or thinking about how to buy a house, and finally, it's no surprise that you end up not owning a house. Conversely, if you have a little faith in your ability to succeed despite circumstances, do your research and experiment, you may well end up achieving your goals.

You can't control the housing market. If you try, you'll most likely end up frustrated. You can control your attitude and your actions, and when you do, you will most likely be more happy and fulfilled.

Who you want to be

It's in the interests of many people to have you be mediocre, in your place, not believing that you have the power to change your own circumstances, to take control of your own destiny. They will always placate you, as long as you're willing to listen. They will always be there to help you feel comfortable in your impotence.

You are always free to demand something better of yourself, to begin to question, to take action, to take responsibility. You can take control over your own beliefs, choose what will benefit you, be careful of the way you speak, in order to create your truth by speaking it, and do what is alignment with your goals. Do what is good for you.

Title image source.

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My name is Kurt Robinson. I grew up in Australia, and for now, the world is my home. I write interesting things about voluntaryism, futurism, science fiction, travelling the world, and psychedelics. Remember to press follow so you can stay up to date with all the cool shit I post, and follow our podcast where we talk about crazy ideas for open-minded people, here: @paradise-paradox, like The Paradise Paradox on Facebook here, and subscribe to The Paradise Paradox on YouTube, and on iTunes.