Will the millennials be a lost generation?

Probably

That last graph is the real problem but don't tell it to all the CEOs and oil barons on the poli board.

Lost, hell they can just Google maps to find out where they are...

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True homeownership.

Does that mean mortgage or paid off house?

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Takes shifting demographics into account. It accounts for people who aren't truly in the housing market, neither owners nor renters.

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They're paying the price of making stupid life decisions.

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Go on...

Please, we'll be fine.

Every generation faces struggles, but humans are adaptive and really good and finding solutions to these problems. Now we have the advantage of technology getting better, the world becoming better connected, and more people joining the global economy.

Bring it on

I blame the shitty music.

an article in the nytimes was talking about this the other. More fancy graphs inside that won't link well here.

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Americans between 18 and 34 are earning less today (after adjustment for inflation) than the same age group did in the past. A typical millennial averaged earnings of $33,883 (in 2013 dollars) between 2009 and 2013. That was down 9.3 percent (after adjustment for inflation) in just a decade and is the lowest since 1980. Older Americans have fared considerably better; earnings of all full-time workers were roughly flat between 2000 and 2011.Americans between 18 and 34 are earning less today (after adjustment for inflation) than the same age group did in the past. A typical millennial averaged earnings of $33,883 (in 2013 dollars) between 2009 and 2013. That was down 9.3 percent (after adjustment for inflation) in just a decade and is the lowest since 1980. Older Americans have fared considerably better; earnings of all full-time workers were roughly flat between 2000 and 2011.

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The wealth of millennials has been hit even harder than their incomes. Their median net worth was just $10,400 as of 2013, down 43 percent from the $18,200 that Gen Xers had in 1995 when they were under 35. With incomes squeezed, millennials are not only not saving much; they are dipping into whatever savings they do have.

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That’s in large part because college is becoming less affordable even as it has become increasingly necessary. Since 1993, average tuition has risen by 234 percent, far above the 63 percent overall inflation rate.

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Saddled with debt and thin paychecks, millennials are delaying purchasing cars and new homes, low mortgage rates notwithstanding. By June of this year, homeownership among Americans under 35 fell to 34.8 percent, down from a high of 43.6 percent in 2004.

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Some of this may be cultural — younger Americans seem less interested in major possessions like cars and homes. But they are also delaying marriage and having children, which I believe is an indicator of strapped finances.

Just to complete a dismal picture, millennials will also be the victims of the irresponsible fiscal policies pursued in large part by members of my generation. The massive budget deficits of recent years and projected needs to meet future obligations to retirees will result in a steady increase in federal debt, from less than 80 percent of gross domestic product today to an estimated 181 percent of G.D.P. by 2090.

Rising national debt levels may threaten the ability of millennials to collect on promised Social Security and Medicare benefits. That’s not lost on millennials — only 45 percent expect to receive Social Security benefits during retirement (compared with 68 percent of baby boomers).

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LINK

If millennials had a work ethic and some loyalty, they would be as good a generation as this country has ever produced. So much potential, so much disappointment. Maybe they will grow into it if they try to adapt to the real world.