Millennials can’t seem to catch a break. If it isn’t mental health conditions plaguing them, then it is financial difficulties causing them sleepless nights. And if we’re being honest, these two can feed off each other to detrimental effect.
Going by a new study conducted by Morning Consult in collaboration with Business Insider, millennials are feeling the heat when it comes to debt compared to other generations. 2,096 Americans participated in the survey, with the research team inquiring about their finances, comparing their earnings with what they owe.
Generation Y
Of the respondents, over 670 of them were aged between 23 and 38, firmly placing them in Generation Y, better known as the millennial generation. The study team found out that approximately a quarter of these millennials have taken out a mortgage, with 41% of them currently servicing car loans.
Of the millennials with mortgages, almost half of them (49.7%) admitted to being mildly or strongly stressed about it, with this number being higher in comparison to the stress levels in all other respondents with mortgage loans. The situation wasn’t any different for millennial respondents with car loans – 50.7% are stressed about it, mild or otherwise.
However, what stresses them out the most is credit card debt, followed by student loans. Going by the study’s findings, 51.5% of millennial respondents are on the hook thanks to maxing out their cards, and 28.4% of them are yet to clear their student debt.
Naturally, card debt is something to worry about. Defaulting can be detrimental to your credit score, but what can one do if they’ve got no funds to service the loan? Rob Peter to pay Paul? No wonder 68% of the millennials with this kind of debt are stressed about it.
The situation is even worse for those with unpaid student loans – 72% of them admit that it is always at the back of their mind, nagging and giving them no peace. In comparison to other respondents in the study with unpaid undergrad debt, only 66% of them feel stressed thinking about it.
Debt-free
Millennials can be correctly described as young adults, no? The description is also fitting for those in their late teens, and the majority of this group opine that being debt-free is the epitome of financial success.
There’s actually existing material supporting this, thanks to a Merrill Lynch survey. Posing structured questions to almost 3,000 Americans aged between 18 to 34, only 19% of the respondents thought that being rich equals financial success. On the other hand, 60% of the study group were of the opinion that being free from debt is the real deal.
Similar to the study by Morning Consult, Merrill also reported that many young adults are wallowing in debt. This is already an open secret, with the Survey of Consumer Finances reporting that collectively, 81% of American young households owe a staggering $2 trillion in debt.
These debts come in the form of everything already mentioned – car loans, mortgages, card debt, and student loans. It really is tough being young in the States, don’t you agree? It begs the question as to whether the American dream is achievable in these tough economic times.
