This hour of research found that the management of growing debt and the future of social security are two trends impacting financial priorities among different generations. Our findings indicate that additional trends or insights may be available with further research.
Trend #1: Digging Out of Debt (or Not)
- Many Americans are deeply in debt, which can effectually lead to bankruptcies, foreclosures, or paying down said debt down at the expense of setting aside personal savings.
- Millennials' debt level has reached $1 trillion as of 2019. $370 billion worth of this is student loan debt.
- Increasing student loan debt combined with the Great Recession has affected the millennial generation dramatically. Its net worth is $40,000 less than that of gen x during the same age range.
- Despite having a greater net worth, however, gen x carries slightly more consumer debt ($36,000) on average than millennials ($27,900).
- 79% of young people between ages 18 and 30 have a personal plan to get themselves out of debt.
- Baby boomers are by all accounts are the wealthiest generation, but debt is still a major worry. 44% of baby boomers are unsure about when they'll be able to pay off their debt.
- 35% of Americans over age 73 believe that they will die in debt.
Trend #2: The Looming Death of Social Security
- The future of social security is on unsteady ground, and younger generations are planning to face retirement without it.
- 90% of Americans say that "they would feel 'betrayed' if Social Security" was no longer an option for them.
- 64% of current retirees rely on social security as their primary source of income, and 41% of baby boomers are expecting to follow suit.
- 79% of gen x believes that social security will no longer be a primary income option by the time it reaches retirement. 87% of millennials and 84% of gen z agree.
- A substantial portion of gen x (41%), millennials (45%), and gen z (44%) believe that they will have to rely on personal savings to pay for retirement. Only 22% of baby boomers and 5% of current retirees depend on personal savings as their primary income source for retirement.
Proprietary Research
In addition to this public search, we scanned our proprietary research database of over 1 million sources and were unable to find any specific research reports that address your goals.