Millennials are not doomed financially, broken, or destroyed. It may sound dramatic to say that an entire generation is financially beyond saving, but it doesn’t hold up when viewed from the big picture perspective. There are definite issues like high student loan debt, increased cost of living, and an unstable economy, but calling millennials “financially destroyed” is more of a catchy article title than a conclusive statement.
Millennials also remain young overall, most have reached the end of their 20’s and the beginning of their 30’s or are just about to hit their 40’s (the oldest). Thus there are many, many decades to continue working, saving, investing, & amassing wealth.
When you are considered ‘financially destroyed’ but have 20 to 30 more working (to generate), saving (to have), & investing (to grow) their wealth, is it possible for someone to be classified as destroyed without considering all the factors listed above?
Generations of individuals before them benefited from having access to time. Back in the day when investing was done through brokers or financial advisors and took lots of paperwork and fees, people needed to have an abundance of resources to learn how to invest in the markets.
Similarly, starting a business cost several thousands of dollars and required physical office space (and sometimes multiple locations) before even starting.
Finally, if someone wanted to find employment in a new location, they had to physically move there or at least visit the area.
Now, with the click of a button, everything can happen from your computer or even smartphone.
The access millennials have has given them tremendous advantages over other generations (even though traditional economic conditions are tougher).
Millennials didn’t enter the world of adulthood very easily; they entered when there were multiple interrelated economic disruptions (the Great Recession) and then continue to enter during the time of COVID-19.
Additionally, many young adults today are experiencing student loan debt at levels that most older adults never experienced.
Wage increases have been slow to materialise in many industries, but housing/rent prices and the cost of living continue to grow at a rapid rate. These are all very real issues that should not be overlooked.
The difficulties faced by millennials and others do not mean they will experience financial failure; rather they reflect that the route to success may include varied paths and require creative solutions.
Adaptability will be key to success.
Another key attribute of millennials is their strong educational background; in fact, millennials are among the most educated generations in modern history. They have greater proportions of graduates than any of their predecessors.
Generally speaking, graduation and a higher level of education provide access to newer industries like those related to technology, data analysis, cybersecurity, digital marketing, and software development. A number of these areas are characterized by high earnings and opportunities for growth over time.
As we see the evolution of companies and technology moving away from traditional careers, individuals with current skills will have more flexibility to adapt and find new careers.
While student loan debt can obviously pose challenges, the educational credential associated with that debt could yet provide expanded career options to millennials.
Every generation has experienced a series of unique economic challenges; for example, baby boomers dealt with inflation and the changing economy, Generation X dealt with changes in job markets due to employment trends and personal economic downturns, and millennials deal with an excessive amount of personal debt as well as rapid changes in technology and employment availability.
There’s a common cycle associated with challenges faced by all generations: they appear, individuals adapt to them and many go on to be successful after this adaptation period.
No generation has ever had a perfect financial journey from beginning to end, therefore it’s unrealistic for anyone to think that millennials will start out completely financially secure during their early or mid-career years.
It usually takes a while for people to find financial success.
People who claim millennials are financially “ruined” tend to focus on the extremes of financial success and failure; for every millennial who becomes a millionaire before age 30, there is also a millennial who can’t afford to save anything.
However, the majority of millennials fall somewhere in between, doing what it takes to work, save, invest and create a stable financial life for themselves and their families; so by focusing only on the extremes you are creating an unrealistic view of reality.
While they aren’t “ruined” the average millennial is trying to work through a complicated financial system just like all previous generations did.
There is a common perception that millennials are “financially ruined” with this being emphasized by the media. Irrational assumptions about millennials are made based on sensationalized headlines that are frequently shared on social media and have gone viral. This leads us to a false impression of millennials; one way to fix this problem is to look at the data and see a much different picture.
There are many opportunities and much time and many resources available for them to be financially successful because they have just started their financial career and have many and many more decades ahead of them, they have access to a world of knowledge through the internet, and they have received a higher level of education than other generations did. So while the future is not set or defined, how successful they are in the future will depend far more on their own habits, decisions, and consistency than it will on their being called millennials. To call millennials financially ruined is a sign of someone who is pessimistic rather than someone who is basing their opinion on facts.
