Poor spending habits, high unemployment, and the government piling heaps of debt (higher taxes) upon their heads ... "Generation Y" is looking at a very bleak future.
Generation Y's steep financial hurdles: Huge debt, no savings
By Christine Dugas, USA TODAY
They're called "Generation Y" — teens and twentysomethings known stereotypically for their coddled upbringing, confidence, opinionated dialogue, free-spending habits and openness to change.
Ultimately, however, the more than 50 million members may be best remembered for whether they can overcome the dire financial straits that plague many of them.
Even before the recession, those in Generation Y — the latest products of a get-it-now, pay-for-it-later mind-set that has permeated the nation's economy — faced a range of financial pitfalls as they embraced expensive high-tech gadgets and added credit card debt onto student loans.
Now, stagnant wages, job insecurity, the decline in employer-sponsored health insurance and retirement benefits, the rapid increase in basic expenses, soaring debt and minimal savings have jeopardized the economic security of the entire generation, according to a recent report by Demos, a public policy research and advocacy think tank.
Their generation is the first in a century that is unlikely to end up better off financially than their parents, the Demos report said.
"The recession has hit them hard," says Jose Garcia, associate director of policy and research at Demos, based in New York. "It affects their income potential, their saving potential and their career-ladder potential."
Kristen Ammerman, 21, a senior at Michigan State University, faces such challenges and sees her Gen Y classmates struggling with financial issues — while seemingly oblivious to the potential consequences.
Read the whole thing here: Generation Y's steep financial hurdles: Huge debt, no savings
My four years of schooling footed to $167,595 between tuition, room & board and fraternity dues. Of that, my parents paid upfront or through loan payments $74,995, leaving me with principle balances footing to $93,005 when I left school. Of this amount, I have paid down $28,656 of principle, and make payments of $498/month consisting mostly of interest. Of the remaining principle, I have a reserve of $58,000 in pseudo cash equivalents. With fixed rates of 2.9% and 2.65% (two separate loans), there's no point in paying them off early (well there could be, depends on payee).
I feel like if I didn't have the awesome job I have, I'd probably be subsisting on rice/beans to service all that debt. I doubt I would have made any principle payments.
Schooling is become prohibitively expensive. Knowing what I know now, I would have never went to the expensive private school I did, when I could have received an adequate education at a state school (or less expensive private institution) at a fraction of the cost.
But you won't see costs going down, especially now that the Administration has nationalized the student loan market. "Just come work for the State for a few years, and we'll help you with those loans," say the Democrats.
The system is utterly broken. It is indeed a bleak future for the vast majority of Gen Y's unless they can land a fat job in a Metro city.
Yeah, going to college is becoming a risky investment. A lot of kids come out and the jobs in their fields just don't pay enough to make it a worthy investment. It's the years of government subsidy that's driven prices sky high!