If your idea of loud budgeting is “show me the money!” from that 1990s Tom Cruise romcom, welcome to the 2020s.
These days the concept of “loud budgeting” has taken on new life as a social media money-management trend in which people talk more openly about their financial situations as a way to better establish with friends and family what one’s spending boundaries are. Whether that frugality stems from wanting to save for a special trip, plans to stash away more for retirement, anti-materialistic values or a spending freeze in the face of rising cost of living, experts agree—taking unnecessary spending off the table from the get-go is a great way to save.
The concept was initially viewed as being geared toward Millennials and Gen Z, who are at a lower-earning stage of life in a time of high interest rates, rising inflation, student-loan and credit-card debt while seemingly being priced out of home ownership in many areas. But loud budgeting could be useful for anyone not wanting to spend a lot for any variety of reasons.
As financial “organizer” Alaina Fingal told CNET recently, “Being authentic and having boundaries around how we are spending our money, along with being able to communicate that message to the world around us, will lead to saving more money and paying off more debt.”
Tik Tok comedic personality Lukas Battle is credited with coining the term in one of his 2024-preview posts, in which he described “loud budgeting” as an antidote to the “quiet luxury” trend of 2023, which celebrated subtle ways of showing off perceived affluence.
Others have described it in proactive terms as facing that situation when friends want to eat at an uncomfortably high-priced restaurant—and instead of quietly going along to avoid embarrassment, simply advocating for something more affordable. It’s a refusal to go along with plans and purchases more about social status than need—and placing value in responsible spending.
As Battle says: “It’s not, I don’t have enough. It’s—I don’t want to spend.”
