Cost of Favorite Yuppie ‘Toys’ Has Jumped
If your yuppie pals seem unhappy these days, here’s why--it now costs more to collect such vital necessities as BMWs, imported sneakers and souped-up videocassette recorders.
So says Hugh Gee, publisher of Money Power Confidential, a San Francisco investment newsletter which offers stock tips that only the wealthiest young urban professionals, or yuppies, can afford.
According to Gee, it costs at least $30,829.85 to buy the 10 essential items that yuppies can’t be yuppies without. That’s 5.9% more, he says, than the $29,117.85 that yuppies would have plunked down to buy the same items a year ago.
High on Gee’s list is the BMW 528e, “the true chariot of the over-reachers.” It now costs $26,000, up from $24,000 a year ago, he says.
Similarly, English-made Reebok Hi-Top aerobic shoes cost $5 more than last year, and dinner for one at Berkeley’s Chez Panisse costs $45, up from $40 a year ago, according to Gee’s yuppie index. Still, die-hard yuppies will pay the price, as the restaurant is to yuppies “what Disneyland is to mice,” Gee says.
Uncovered a Few Bargains
Gee’s list has uncovered a few bargains. An Apple Macintosh Plus home computer has dropped in price to $2,499 from $2,795, and a Cuisinart DLC-7 Super Pro food processor that “does everything but make reservations” costs $260, down from $290. And prices of the Sony CDP 302 compact disk player and the Trivial Pursuit board game are unchanged.
Other things yuppies must have are a JVC HR-D75U videocassette recorder for $974, up $5; a one-year membership at a 24-hour Nautilus club for $258, up $8, and cocaine--”the real yuppie chow”--for $110 a gram, up $10, although, Gee notes, “dealer prices may vary.”
Gee, who is too old to be a yuppie, says he drew up the list by putting himself in a yuppie’s tennis shoes. “I tried to decide what I would want if I were a yuppie,” he explains.
And who are the yuppies? Gee acknowledges that young urban professionals “who once thought nothing of jumping in the old Bimmer (BMW) and heading down to the local gourmet grocer for some Brie” are keeping a lower profile, fearing they may be called “too yup.” But while it may not be fashionable to behave like a yuppie, it’s still OK to spend like one, he says. “They are still with us.”
Gee says he analyzed the yuppie life style to determine whether yuppies would be good customers for his monthly investment newsletter, which, at $225 a year, is one of the priciest ones around. His conclusion: With all the money they’re spending, “regrettably, there’s not much left for them to invest,” he says. “Yuppies are a very poor prospect.”
