“Want to hammock on Sunday?” asked M.

M is a friend I made at my indoor rock-climbing gym who regularly sends me Snapchats. He enjoys heading outdoors, hiking and climbing every chance he gets.

And he hammocks … which means he takes time out to find two trees in a park or some other outdoor setting and strings up his hammock, where he just spends time in it.

He’s careful about what he eats, is of mixed ethnicity and carries his phone with him everywhere he goes.

M isn’t alone in Snapchatting or hammocking or healthy eating or being of multiethnic descent. He actually represents a 92-million-strong generation. And this generation is about to do something shocking…

M is a millennial.

This generation is between the ages of 18 and 34. The first wave of them hit adulthood in 2000, giving them their name.

As a group, millennials are optimistic. In fact, research shows that millennials are the most optimistic generation the United States has ever seen, with 70% of millennials believing that they are going be way better off than their parents and 50% of them believing the country’s greatest years are ahead.

Confidence is one thing, but you really haven’t seen this generation’s impact on the economy or the stock market. Until now…

Millennials: The Generation Changing America

I believe millennials are about to take over the U.S. economy. As this happens, it’s going to make the U.S. economy surge higher. In time, you’ll see a millennial-driven boom that will wipe away the pessimism of today, and this boom will go down in the history books.

It won’t be instant … and it won’t come in a straight line. But here’s why I believe it’s going to happen.

Just for context, the millennials are bigger than the baby-boomer generation — at 77 million. If you’re in a room with 10 people in the U.S., chances are three of those people are millennials. My point here is that this is a very large generation. Just by sheer numbers, their choices and preferences are going to alter the direction of the U.S. economy.