Young Adults on Economy: We Need Help

Reader Comments
Back to blog

It's my observation that twenty somethings are feeling a strain and shift in the economy, stressing us in ways previous generations have not faced. We're told we need to go to college, yet face a country with high unemployment numbers and lower salaries when we graduate. Eventually the workforce will retire, but our generation will not have the skills, experience, or people volume needed to make the economic transition smooth. And don't even get me started on problems we'll face with social security, healthcare, etc.
Today, I see friends, even young married couples, moving back with parents out of necessity. This may be seen as responsible, but it also hints to a declining optimistic "I can" OR "anything is possible" attitude.
I would argue that we young adults are truely caught between a rock and a hard place. And the liberties we witness as kids, will not be offered as we age, unless we learn how to operate and manage complex systems.

Cheryl of MN 10:29AM August 19, 2010

As a member of the college class of '09, I question the author's word choice when describing the average debt of young-adults "less than ideal." In this country where one year's tuition is often more than a starting salary, I think that $14,000 in debt for student loans is admirable.
We are receiving a mixed message: we must go to college to get a good job and have financial security later in life, yet we are not supposed to go into debt for this education?

Rebecca R of CA 3:19AM September 18, 2009

Have them check out a site called Eat and Grow Rich.com

Jay of NJ 8:44PM April 03, 2009

I'd be very curious to know how many of the young adults surveyed have signed up for a class on money or purchased a book, a magazine, or a video on the subject or have visited a website on the subject.
A lot of surveys reflect parents don't talk to kids about money or don't want to, but the reality is, verbal or not, conversations, interactions, activities, and messages around money are taking place all the time between parents and kids.
What I've heard said often and believe myself is the best way to lead and teach is by example.
I'm a strong believer that when it comes to financial education, whether it is in the home or at school, one key is to start early.
Sam X Renick
www.itsahabit.com
www.sammyrabbitblog.com
Changing children & family lives one habit and dime at a time!

sam x renick of CA 5:21PM April 01, 2009

If the nation went to the tax credit for profitsharing, where
business gets a tax credit for returning up to 20% of net profits back to the working class, we would see a new middle class emerge.
A solution to the economic crisis is here!
See the FREE book online at www.profitsharinguprising.com
That solution is a tax credit for businesses that plow up to 25% of NET PROFITS BACK TO THE EMPLOYEES, on a regular basis (monthly?), before the business or the government can abuse it. This is not a profit-sharing “savings” plan, nor is it a mere tax credit.
IT IS A DECENTRALIZED, BUILT-IN, REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH TO THE PEOPLE WHO ACTUALLY EARN THAT WEALTH! - The profit-sharing tax credit.
Please read the 60 page book, PAYBACK, free of charge, on the website noted above, and note the “forward” in the book. It is written by John Huddleston, former Chief of the Budget and Planning Division at the International Monetary Fund. He says, “it (the profit-sharing tax credit) may be the most practical way to get Congress engaged.”
This is a politically neutral solution that is compatible with both liberal and conservative ideals.
Profit-sharing is a PROVEN management strategy to improve morale and productivity.
What are the multidimensional and macroeconomic consequences of profit-sharing?
It will increase household income substantially. Especially if there are 2 working adults.
It will make healthcare premiums and mortgages easier to manage.
It is both business friendly and beneficial to the worker.
It will increase national productivity as well as local productivity. Profit-sharing is proven.
It will create a built-in, regular economic stimulus; more income increases supply & demand.
It will maximize employment because old dead-end jobs are transformed into partnerships.
It will mobilize the unrecorded unemployed, and older workers.
It will create a wider tax base and more federal revenue, independent of tax increases.
It will replenish the Social Security and Medicare coffers, via increased withholdings.
It makes achieving economic self-sufficiency easier to achieve “ on-the-street”, therefore
It will ease the strain on our safety net programs, and on our national budget.
It will compete with the “drugs and guns” underground economy; reducing crime.
It will restore respect to America world-wide, by creating a new more egalitarian model.
It will refine capitalism to the system that was visualized by our forefathers.
It will help us get out of debt by creating greater revenue, and restoring strength to the dollar.
It will save the national and global economy. It stimulates as well as stabilizes the economy.
It is the best investment the government can make; in its own working class.
But even a new green economy will not change things if the wealth is not shared equitably.
It is revolutionary in the most positive way!
You can help. Join the profitsharing uprising!

Darian L Smith of NC 3:28PM April 01, 2009

The 14k mentioned is average, not median. We must assume that this number refers to total debt, credit cards and student loans. Regardless, that is a lot of debt. The difference between the two is that credit card debt is much harder to pay down because of much higher interest rates and mercenary credit card companies.
I suppose a lot of students with BA degrees and large debts are finding out that the jobs/careers they studied for, while fulfilling, don't pay well enough to pay off these loans in a timely fashion. And these times make it that much harder.
My sympathies...

jimmy of LA 1:59PM April 01, 2009