#millennials #BabyBoomers #wealth
Millennials are having it tough.
Though most have eventually found work after the Great Recession, they are trailing their boomer parents in wealth, when their parents were roughly the same age.
Gail MarksJarvis of the Chicago Tribune discussed this issue in an article published March 20, 2017, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
MarksJarvis tells the story of Julius Givens, who moved to Chicago after graduating from the University of Missouri in 2013. He spent six months delivering sandwiches by bicycle and living with two roommates in a studio apartment, MarksJarvis writes.
On top of that, he had $20,000 in student loan debt.
“It’s tight living with three people in a studio, but you figure out how to handle it,” MarksJarvis quotes Givens.
The millennials came into adulthood amid one of the worst recessions in U.S. history. Though most have found jobs, their incomes are 20 percent lower than what baby boomers earned at the same age, MarksJarvis quotes a study by Young Invincibles, an advocacy group for millennials.
They also have fewer cars, homes, less savings and other assets, and a lot more student loan debt than their parents did when they were young, MarksJarvis quotes other studies.
Givens says he’s actually doing better than his mother did at his age, since she worked and raised six children on her own in St. Louis. He now has a professional job in the medical products industry, and backing for a business he is starting. He now lives in a two-bedroom apartment with a roommate, according to MarksJarvis’ article.
“I’m not hurting for anything. I don’t need a car or a house,” she quotes Givens.
The difference between millennials’ and their parents’ situation boils down to job security. Very likely, most baby boomers came out of school, found a job and got to keep that job for a lot of years. Or, they were able to easily move from one job to another, with better pay at each move.
Many baby boomers, however, got kicked in the teeth with the recession as well. Just as they were beginning to think about retirement, some lost their jobs. Many had a tough decision to make: take a job that paid a lot less than the one they lost, or retire “early,” long before they wanted to.
Many millennials like Givens are starting to see their situations get better, and they have a lot more time, at least in theory, to prepare for retirement. However, though their situations may be getting better now, they can’t presume that the good times will last. The fortunate ones will have jobs for as long as they want. Many, if not most, will not.
Certainly the economy is changing for all age groups. Each group needs to look for ways to make money other than through a traditional, W-2 job. If you are willing to look, and want to check out one of the best such vehicles, message me.
The world is changing much more quickly than when baby boomers became adults. For some, change can work for the better. For others, not so much.
The important thing is not to just protest the change, and complain about it. It’s paramount that you take matters into your own hands.
Circumstances will bite, but strong people fight back. You have to decide how strong you are, and how willing you might be to look at something you may never have thought about before.
Peter