2025 saw the explosion of “treatonomics”—a term popularized by The Future 100, the annual trend bible from the marketing agency VML. In the latest edition of their report, VML found that younger people are giving up on traditional life milestones and replacing them with more achievable goals.
What are these goals that have apparently replaced retirement and homeownership? The new milestones (or inchstones, as they’re sometimes called) are known as “little treats.”
For some, these might come in the form of a fancy coffee or a bar of Dubai chocolate; for others, a luxury skincare item or a DoorDash food delivery habit.
Whatever form it takes, the little treat seems to have become a big feature of many people’s budgets.
