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70% of Millennials Are Living Paycheck to Paycheck: Survey:
Millennials' wallets are rather skimpy.
Seventy percent of the generation said they're living paycheck to paycheck, according to a survey by PYMNTS and LendingClub, which analyzed economic data and census-balanced surveys of over 28,000 Americans. It found that about 54% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, but millennials had the biggest broke energy.
By contrast, 40% of baby boomers and seniors said they live paycheck to paycheck, the least of any generation. Living paycheck to paycheck reflects economic needs and wants just as much, if not more than, incomes or wealth levels, according to the report. Age and family status also factor in greatly. This explains why millennials, who turn ages 25 to 40 this year, are struggling.
[...] It doesn't help that millennials have faced one economic challenge after another since the oldest of them graduated into the dismal job market of the 2008 financial crisis. A dozen years later, many are still grappling with the lingering effects of The Great Recession, struggling to build wealth while trying to afford soaring costs for things like housing and healthcare and shouldering the lion's share of America's student-loan debt.
The pandemic threw yet another wrench into their plans by giving them their second recession and second housing crisis before the age of 40. The report acknowledges that the pandemic played a major role in that stretched thin feeling.
[...] It seems, then, that it's a combination of external economic circumstances, a precarious life stage, and some spending habits that are leaving millennials feeling strapped for cash.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday September 29 2021, @01:38PM
Like most things, there are many factors that contribute to an emergent phenomenon. You nailed a large part of what's bedeviling the Millennials now. I would add that people in their age range are the cohort that advertising targets most heavily. They are literally being brainwashed to blow through all their money, and it works. You couple that with the removal of economics, civics, and personal finance from most public school curriculums and you have graduates who are completely ignorant of finance and business unless they have family who are CFAs or CPAs who teach them how.
We've been trying to train our kids to manage money and to be makers instead of consumers, ie. when they want something we point to tools and materials and tell them to make it (we also do work with them to get them started, because we're not completely heartless). Who knows if it will ultimately take, but at least we try. Those of us who are older can at least do that for the struggling Millennials and those who follow them--show them there's another way.
Washington DC delenda est.