By Michael D.
At a time when big hair, leg warmers, and boom boxes were all the rage, parents were giving birth to now 30-somethings who would apparently not get enough nurturing in finances. This cohort of the millennial generation is pacing for a rough life with little hope of enough savings to support a retirement 40 years from now.
The details in this new report titled "The Lost Generation?" and released by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, is a modern-day version of The Great Depression with questionable hope the millennial who are suffering will recover.
The report concludes that the net-worth of a family headed by parents born in the 80's is 34% less than what was expected by now. What's even more interesting is this is the only sub-group within this generation to not recover from the recession between 2010 and 2016. Other millennials did.
But other generations are not off the hook. People born in the 60's and 70's also accumulated less wealth than expected, 11% and 18% respectively.
WHAT WENT WRONG?
While most Millennials (and most other generations, for that matter) will complain they are being paid what they're worth or making the money expected, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis says income isn't the issue. It's debt, a bulk of which is sitting inside loans where the purchases don't appreciate. Think cars, think education.
Unlike home-ownership, there is no equity. The equity built into a college loan sits on the front end with a graduate's ability to get a job that would otherwise be unlikely without a diploma.
ENOUGH BAD NEWS, WHAT NOW?
Packed into this doom and gloom is a savior - father time. This portion of the Millennial generation has time to develop a financial plan, get creative with budgeting and take up a side-hustle to reverse the damage. There's one other thing - this generation is the most educated. They'll just have to brush up on math skills if they don't want their retirement accounts to be a fraction of what they could be.