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Troubled Finances of the Young and Restless

September 4, 2008 RSS Feed Print

Generations X and Y will represent 60 percent of the U.S. workforce by 2010. When it comes to money, a recent Fidelity survey found, both generations are—surprise!—conflicted. To me, it's interesting that Fido's definition of a gen X-er is someone born between 1967 and 1975; gen Y includes anyone born between 1976 and 1987. That means I hail from generation Y—yikes.

Here are a few take-aways from Fidelity's survey:

Money keeps us up at night. Nearly 8 out of 10 respondents said money is their biggest concern. It ranks higher than both family relationships and healthcare.

Dollars don't drive our career choices: Our job-related decisions are mainly influenced by a "quest for work/life balance," the survey found (70 percent gen Y and 63 percent of gen X said this).

Saving for retirement takes a back seat to debt. More than half of respondents said other financial priorities prevent them from saving for their golden years. Managing everyday finances, making mortgage payments, and managing credit-card debt all rank higher as crucial goals, Fidelity found.

We rely on mom and dad for financial advice. Parents are the No. 1 resource for guidance on our finances, although nearly 1 in 5 of us don't ask for advice, period.

Many of us are cashing out of our retirement plans. When changing jobs, 41 percent of respondents didn't seek any guidance regarding their workplace retirement assets. Of those, more than half cashed out of their retirement savings plans, Fidelity found.

Tags:: surveys,; Fidelity,; personal finance,; money

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I respect your opinion, but how is that comment relevant to this topic?
And although we may appear to egocentric, perhaps from our constant fixation to our social media outlets, we are actually quite selfless. Our generation is concerned about environmental issues, and have been raised around a great deal of diversity - so we are much more tolerant and accepting of multiculturalism, gay rights, and cultural respect.
As for the money situation...... I agree with V of FL - The price of tuition has risen dramatically, and these days it is impossible to find a decent position with only a high school education, so we are almost forced to go to college or university, in hopes of landing a decent starting salary.
However, a comparison between myself (who completed only 1 year of college) and starting working my way up in office work at the same time) , and a couple of my friends (who have completed university with a degree, or bachelors) and have taken out a large student loan.
After 6 years of working my way up from Receptionist, I am now an Office Manager, and soon to be HR Manager (which my company is paying for me to go back to school in the evenings and complete the program) I make around $40,000 year and have benefits.
My friends who have obtained better education, are finding that 1 - the starting salary for any position is less than what I make. And 2 - They are having a hard time finding a career in their field of study, or the positions available are below their skill level. And what would be the point of taking a higher paying job in a different field, if you just completed 4 years of school for nothing?

Miss Mac 6:37AM July 02, 2011

You've all heard it many times before, but it's worth hearing again. Members of Gen Y are the laziest, most egocentric narcissistic brats that have ever walked the earth. Let's stop pretending and call a spade a spade. Grow up Gen Y, before life itself makes you grow up.

Rob 12:20AM June 21, 2011

How on earth can we afford an RV, a boat or an ATV?! I haven't been able to afford a haircut in a year, new underwear, or a prescription, or food, or a roof over my head! There are no jobs for our generation because once we spend 300k with interest in student loan debt, our degrees are worthless and it's impossible to pay 2k a month in interest for our education. Then we go into default and are still living with our parents. It's impossible to save when 100% of our income is going to the private companies who are in bed with the government that we got our inflated student loans are from. Oh wait, there is no income. Never mind. So how am I going to save money for retirement? How can our generation save when it's impossible? At least the baby boomers will have the luxury of social security no matter how small it is. It will be depleted before I can retire. Then again I don't plan on retiring because that will be impossible too. Young and the Restless is an understatement. It's hard to believe that that average cost of education in the 70's was $550 a year and could be paid off in months. When I read that statistic to my Generation Y friends, they started crying. But somehow the income has dropped and the cost of going to school is rising at a rate twice that of inflation. The system is leaving our generation frustrated and full of angst. If I had known what I was getting myself into, I would have never gone to college. But no one tells you. Everyone tells you to go to college and you will get a job. What a lie. That was true 20 years ago, but not anymore.

V of FL 2:42AM August 08, 2010

Troubled Finances of the Young and Restless

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