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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, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 29 2021, @02:43PM (1 child)
I posted this elsewhere, but one thing to remember is that a lot of the wasteful things people spend money on these days are dirt cheap next to the heavy expenses. Netflix is $9 (or whatever), rent is $900 if you're lucky. A used iPhone and a low end data plan costs $600 a year, student loan payments can easily be more than that a month. I make good money, but between health insurance for the family and copays I spend $25,000 a year (my employer pays $8,000). I can cancel my HBO Max subscription, sell my phone, cancel my phone service, and sell my 55 inch TV, it's not going to make a dent in those medical expenses.
Don't get me wrong, people bankrupt themselves buying huge trucks or taking extravagant vacations. But small luxury spending is not the source of financial problems for most Americans. Rent, health care, student loans, and other living expenses are, and there's not much you can do to reduce those.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 30 2021, @09:23PM
And then if they didn't buy them, you'd see even more of those "Millennials aren't buying X anymore!" articles in the media.