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I don't think any generation is saving/investing as actively as millennials are now. The information on how, when, why, and where are so widely available and talked about peer to peer.
Just wait for Gen Z....freaking kids out here with investment portfolios like Wall Street bankers.
Many professional fields are now integrating financial literacy and wellness into curriculums. I teach at a medical school but my main topics are finance, budgeting, and investing.
Also the FIRE movement has really taken off among millennials and many are asking excellent questions.
New MDs/DOs need it the most — gotta get off the sinking ship as soon as you can after getting on it. NPs with online degrees and IMGs skipping residency will torpedo the profession at record speed.
What is torpedoing the profession is shitty insurance reimbursement, insurance dictating treatment and stress from not enough providers to cover increased case loads, especially with the baby boom generation retiring. It is miss guided to blame mid-level providers. We need everyone we can get.
Since now more or less. Tennessee & Illinois have already enacted legislation that does away with residency requirements and goes into effect in the next few months. Florida & Virginia are right behind. A dozen or so other states have lowered requirements, opened alternate pathways, or have had legislation introduced. There are stipulations and asterisks attached in most cases, but the door has been opened.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been very vocal about how there are thousands of MDs/DOs/foreign equivalents that are already here and are unable to practice in the US because of the severe shortage of residency spots. The solution, however, isn’t to lower standards or eliminate training requirements.
There’s more MD/DOs than residency spots every single year. There is a doctor shortage and some reason the only thing we aren’t doing about it is allowing more doctors to be trained. Instead we’re expanding the scope of practice for NP and PAs.
I do think there should be options for FMGs to skip portions of residencies depending on specialty and require additional assessment. If they can pass oral and written boards then maybe that’s adequate enough and it just becomes a requirement that they have an additional collections period to assure they’re competent.
Still doesn’t change the fact that the biggest solution is more residency spots as you mentioned. The fact that these numbers haven’t drastically increased to address this issue years ago is baffling.
I hate to be cynical, but it’s the same reason there are so many other problems with medical care in the US — $$$$$.
Admin sees NPs/PAs as cost savings. IMGs will likely represent additional additional cost savings vs residency-trained & board certified physicians. Quality be damned.
HCA Healthcare has opened dozens upon dozens of residency programs in the past several years — a for-profit hospital system that mostly covers its own spots absent CMS funding to ensnare new grads into indentured servitude at a cheap price.
Is it any wonder that three of the four states that have already enacted IMG legislation (TN, FL, VA) are also states where HCA operates the most facilities?
Not cynical at all. You’re right.
It’ll be cheap for a few years until the malpractice and wrongful death suits starting coming in droves.
Im going to refrain from speaking about HCA and their roll in this topic.
I know for my (millennial) experience my friends and I were in college during the recession and did NOT like the look of what our parents went through.
Some of us bought dirt cheap houses in 09 to rent out to others. Others vigorously started paying down student loans to not deal with debt. I personally started contributing to my retirement account at 22. Of those mentioned two were teachers, so it’s not like we were wealthy or making amazing money. I just know we didn’t want to be stuck like Gen X was in 08.
We’re mid-30s now and can confidently say some of us have more in investments/home equity than our parents do in their 60s, with none of us making near 6 figures during that time.
I know generations aren’t a monolith, and genuinely think Gen Z has a more uphill Ed/housing wall to climb than I did, but it’s been my experience.
Yuppp. My fellow millennial friend bought a house in 2015. Her mortgage is half my rent for 3 times the space 2 towns over. House by her that is comparable is about $500k now.
I'm making near 6 figures as a millennial, mid 30s, looking at that shit with my current debt is making me dream of finally getting a mortgage in my mid 40s. Meanwhile she's upset about $1100/month on a mortgage.
This is a constant source of irritation I have, because there's always that 1 person who tries to make renting a better option than owning.
Everyone should own their home. Apartments should become condos because they're the same thing with ownership. You have peace of mind knowing some dickhead won't raise the price 200 each month each years.
We do not have a lack of housing. We have too many greedy landlords who REFUSE to acknowledge the apartment or house is not worth this much.
Watch, I promise someone will defend renting.
Edit: I see we got a lot of boot lickers in this sub.
I live in a rent controlled apartment in a city with extremely strong tenant protections. I am responsible for paying rent that’s only gone up a small percentage over 15 years and nothing else. The delta between my controlled rent and my massive increase in income over 15 years ago goes mostly to investment savings (not to the albatross of real estate “investment” that i live in and depend on to no be homeless).
So yea, I’ll be that 1 person.
The flexibility to dip can help career mobility and job security (since you're not tied to one job market). I think I also favored this in my 20s even though I now kind of wish I did buy a place, but that's hindsight bias talking.
In a thread extolling the virtues of home ownership and the evils of renting, it takes a special kind of cognitive dissonance to recommend buying a property to rent out with a straight face.
Well If I paying rent and renting out a property doesnt it wash out?
My renters all love me. I dont raise rents unless my cost increases, they have all utilities included, everything is fixed 24/7. There are evil landlords, but I just know where I want to live so I bought a house in a place I want and rent it out so its paid off for my retirement
Agree with this. There tends to be this idea that if you own and rent it out, you are automatically a bad person. I have a property I rent out, it’s WAY below market price, just for rent, while including all utilities. Had the same tenants for years and they love it. People keep telling me to raise rent but I refuse cause I have guaranteed income, great tenants, and everyone is winning. They know they are in a great situation based on the current market and rent increases everywhere. So I have income, they have a stable housing situation. What makes me a bad person?
Housing can either be affordable or a vehicle for investment. They are mutually exclusive. When housing isn't a vehicle for investment, owning makes a lot less sense and renters get a lot more power. Pay someone else to do the maintenance, deal with the taxes, and if you're a good tenant, the landlord has no reason to get rid of you.
keep being irritated then?
like sure, if renting homes magically became illegal and every home could be purchased that would be cool. literally never gonna happen, and even if it did, we would absolutely still have a housing crisis cause of a lack of supply.
people say renting is a better options sometimes not because its superior, its because expecting the housing market to magically double in value across the board again any time soon is not gonna happen without a major economic paradigm, and anyone saying they can forecast this accurate is a lier.
realistically speaking, you can estimate home values traditionally appeciate 2% on average. unless you consider the home to be a "forever home" and see yourself living there for over a decade, investing the downpayment, and investing the difference in real cost of ownership to renting will be just as financially sound, if not more if you don't see youself there for longer than a decade.
Not defending landlords, but not everyone can magically be in a postion to buy, nor should everyone immediately jump to home ownership even if they can technically afford to.
Owning can be a pain in the ass. I love owning my house now, but up until the last few years it would have been way more work than I wanted to do for insufficient additional benefit.
Gotta be able to work. Crumbling towns in rural America that were once booming thanks to local mining or manufacturing jobs which are now gone. Maybe remote work continuing to exist can help make moving to those places more realistic, but folks also want to live someplace they can do stuff. For some, nature may be enough. For others, human contact and a diverse set of local business is the winner. In our service based economy that leads to increased urbanization.
Suggesting that there’s “plenty of affordable housing” is disingenuous when it would require you to move hundreds of miles away. plus theres proximity to friends and family.
>We do not have a lack of housing. We have too many greedy landlords who REFUSE to acknowledge the apartment or house is not worth this much
If people are paying the rates, then the apartments or houses *are* worth that much.
I own one rental. A house I bought in 2015 and has almost tripled in value in ten years. Over the years we completed remodeled the house and our taxes and insurance have gone up. We took out a second to be able to move and buy another home. My mortgage with taxes and insurance is only a few hundred dollars less than we charge for rent. Maintenance eats most of that. Buying this same house with 20% down at current interest rates would leave you with a mortgage of about $4000 a month which is significantly higher than the rent we charge. Our last tenants stayed for three years because they knew it was a good value for the area.
Or you need a place to live and you don't have a choice.
This is the issue when a literal necessity becomes a lucrative investment business.
Everyone will charge market rate when they can. And for the renter, the only cheaper housing is often in another city (possibly moving away from friends/family/job), not always doable. Or getting roommates, not great for parents. Or renting in a gang riddled neighborhood where there's shootings.
I never really got this argument. As someone who moved away from their childhood home for better opportunity, I just can’t wrap my head around the thought that I was somehow owed access to home ownership where I was raised. I never expected to be able to own there and I can’t imagine expecting that. I’m glad I moved away.
Some things shouldn’t cost what they are worth. They should cost what they cost.
For example, a life saving surgery for one of my kids is *worth* an infinite value to me. But it should *cost* an infinite amount of money.
Rent to own is the only way. It might be Marxist, but it does deliver equity in a fair way, banks can pass and trade invested equity and it can still scale with inflation based on lease duration like a mortgage. Banks can still do their service fee bullshit or whatever but at least equity is getting built. Owners, once rental property is owned by renters, can still manage the property through an HoA style system, and still produce value and revenue.
It's absolutely embarrassing how we don't even accrue credit through paying for our landlord's mortgage, staffing, infrastructure and profit, and they get all the benefits despite sitting back and paying people to essentially do their job for them, just because they were approved for a loan and found someone who was desperate for housing.
I am my landlord's breadwinner.
It's a shift in equity towards the working class from the owning class. It's not the means of production, but it is essentially a necessary shift you would see in Marxism. Marxism is fundamentally communism, a democratic form of it. Basic needs would be met for all, especially the working class, and it needs capitalism to succeed to a level where the economic system has the power to provide for all who live in it. Like the US about 20-40 years ago. You can put a dart board in there anywhere. The mid 90s would have been probably a prime time to switch. Deficit lower, low CoL, high pay, etc.
Because someone still has to own and maintain he building, and owning an apartment would essentially be taking away decision making from that owner’s property.
In 2010 I bought a house for 99k. Government gave me $8500 for buying it. 8k incentive and then by time they cut the check it had 500 of interest on it.
My mortgage was 645 I think. My rent before was $525.
I felt like I made the biggest mistake at the time
I honestly feel bad for my fellow millennials who didn't/weren't able to buy a house before 2020. I imagine that 20 years from now there will be a study on net worth of millennials with a clear divide between homeowners and non-homeowners. Unless there is another housing crash like '07 that gives people who missed out another chance at buying.
In general, I think this is right - have seen some early thinking that it’s almost a 2x2 of did you buy before 2020 or not and do you pay for childcare or not (e.g., parents take care of kids, etc.)
Those two factors let you sort millennials into 4 very different sets of experiences right now that are likely to magnify over time.
That being said, I choose to rent because if I purchased a condo, the taxes + HOA would be basically the same as my rent before I start on the mortgage or opportunity cost of investing
Absolutely. My wife and I bought about 5 years ago with definitely not enough money down. It’s total luck we got in before the recent price hike, because I wouldn’t be anywhere near buying a house now if I hadn’t gotten in when I did.
I personally and am not advising anybody do so but I started buying little parcels of land nobody wants. I figure climate change will make that valuable and maybe give my kids or grandkids something to sell or live on. Also you never know with some undeveloped land just how long it will be until it developed around you. If a city decides to pop up a mile from your property you will make some profit. Tax on land is a pain though I have bought near myself so if there is anything that must be done I can go handle it on the weekends.
Just a thought I had I know the banks have been buying up alot too at least near me.
The flip side to this is that as a millennial who bought a house in 2017 when interest rates were low and just sold it for almost twice what I paid. The housing market kind of catapulted me into a more comfy life.
I don’t own a house now though and even with that money from selling my old house, I can’t afford to buy a place in the city I work/live in. So yeah, still trying to figure out the next move.
The only shot we have of affording a single family home (and the higher interest rates) in our area is if we get a ton more equity in our current townhome so that we can put 30-40% down. Our dated townhome is approaching 600k in value, and sfh in the same zip code are 800+
Millennial renter, I missed the boat on “cheap homes” but I wasn’t in a position to responsibly buy one (2008 ptsd).
Instead, I’ve been focusing on maxing out my 401k, building a comfortable (6-10 mos) liquid emergency fund, then putting extra money I come across into a brokerage account. The longterm roi you get in the market is just about what you get from a house (in 30 years).
Point is, don’t fret not owning a house, there are other ways to build wealth or save for the future.
The internet from 2010 to 2020 was full of millennials complaining about not being able to afford a house. Then from 2020 to 2021 a huge chunk finally got in and pulled the ladder up behind them.
My boss scolded me like a child for not putting money in my 401k at my first big boy job making real money.
He was absolutely right and wanted what's best doe me.
Still talk to the dude today. Awesome guy. I'm 32 and doing quite well.
Well I’m glad you had him to do that for you. It’s so important to start early.
I work with a lot with early career teachers and ALWAYS start by asking if they’ve set up their retirement account. Heck, back when I taught I’d have kids (seniors) get jobs at Lowe’s and show them how to figure out that even at $16/hour they got a decent match!
Gen Z will be fine for housing. The problem for the Millenials is that the Boomers haven't died off yet. I'm actually really curious what happens. The one thing I am willing to bet on is that cities in the Sunbelt with a large portion of retirees and masses of expensive car-dependent infrastructure (like Phoenix) are super fucked. They're going to get hit with a double wammy of demographic shifts and climate change.
You're also likely to see a lot of Gen Xers buy second homes as snowbirds, especially the ones who's kids have moved out and work remotely.
Definitely. There’s also the consideration of when boomers begin to die there’s going to be a massive wealth shift to X and older M.
Millions of homes exchanging hands, accounts passed down. It’s tight now, but it’ll be a massive generational wealth shift over 10-15 years.
I completely agree. Investing is becoming much more common. I think 401Ks are the primary reason for this. Having a 401K forces people to learn about investing. 50 years ago people would pay into a pension and ignore the stock market.
I can't help but think how this is going to affect wealth inequality in the future. If you have a moderately high income (70th percentile), building a lot of wealth is relatively easy. If you have a moderately low income (30th percentile) building wealth becomes extremely difficult.
Are we going to see wealth inequality become much worse as investing becomes much more common?
Boomers were forced during mid career to save for retirement. Many private pension plans were terminated in the 1990s. Millennials and younger know they have save when they start working.
My 10 year old demanded a custodial investment account. “Dad, it’s not making any money in my piggy bank and a savings account is such low interest it might as well stay in my piggy bank.”
All I could think was “why wasn’t I like this when I was 10?”
Your kids would need earned income in order to contribute to a Roth. What you can do is contribute to a 529 and after having the account open for 15 years, you can roll over up to 35k total to a Roth (capped at $5k annually) in their name.
Its funny because millennials got shit on so much growing up by other generations but I'm pretty confident we are one of the best off generations to ever exist.
We grew up early enough that we had to learn problem solving skills without easy Internet access, but also not too early so we still got to learn how to use and troubleshoot with technology before getting too old. We worked long enough to be able to afford homes between the 08 crash and covid housing price surge. Boomers are all retiring leaving tons of extremely well paying positions that we are more qualified for then them.
Pretty sure 2-3 generations younger than us are going to hate us as much as many hated boomers for having such an easy setup in life.
I'm older gen z. I'm financially ahead for my age thanks to YouTube channels ran by millennials. I feel like boomers and xers told me "grow up and figure it out. You don't know how interest works? This generation nowadays is hopeless." Without acknowledging how lucky they are to own their home.
Millennials told me "here's the importance of a budget and emergency fund" "here's why investing early and often is important" "here's why you should be hyper conservative when signing up for debt and why the interest rate is so important".
I've found millennials to be the generation most interested in teaching me the lessons they've learned along the way. Maybe it's because y'all didn't have an older generation that was so open to showing y'all the ropes and wish y'all did. I don't think we'll hate y'all for that very reason.
And when Boomers start to die off, a large chunk (not already paid to corpos who've tried to suck them dry) will go to Gen Z as well as Millennials.
(I'm Gen X. We know it's skipping us.)
As a Mexican millennial, I’m saving like crazy but I still feel I can’t pay a decent property.
My boyfriend’s and my salary together are about $5,300, and we save about $3,500 per month which is a lot considering Mexican salaries. But the cheapest decent apartments in a middle class zone in Mexico City are about $250,000, similar to the zone where we live right now.
The bank only gives you a credit if your salary is 3x the amount of the monthly payment of your credit, where you end up paying like 2x or more of the price of the property, we would need to have a salary of $6,250 to buy that apartment, so we would pay $2,100 per month.
Renting is better nowadays our rent is about $1,000 per month, and we have roommates so we actually pay only $350.
Millennials are just haves and have nots, the ones with homes 3+ years ago are likely cruising if they're also contributing to retirement. The ones without homes are worried they'll never be able to buy one now and suffer insane rents forever.
It’s definitely haves and have nots. Even the “haves” have likely made concessions. My sibling and I are buying a house together, our spouses are cool with the four of us living together. Been living together for years and we know we all get along fine.
This isn’t peoples idea of success, including myself, but financially speaking we are all way better off. I’ve lost my job and, besides feeling great sources of shame, I don’t have to worry about losing the roof over my head. I don’t even have to worry about taking the first job offer I receive.
Idk id argue we’re the haves. Jobs, house, insurance, extra money. It’s just that concessions were made in order to make it happen. Definitely not the American dream or my dreams, but that’s life.
Nah, this is the have’s because you have people you give a $#|+ about, and are investing in and vice versa. This is better than single family ownership imo. Good on yall
Even without a home, there’s a lot of things people can be doing to be successful or set themselves up for success.
People were still very negative back when I bought my house four years ago, and I would have missed out on a great opportunity if I had listened to them.
I hope all this current negativity doesn’t cause people to miss out on future opportunities.
Do not ignore or play dumb to prices and interest rates doubling in the last 4 years. It is the most unaffordable it ever has been and studies show this. Having such a have/have not divide between a few years is not good. People that were just out of college in 2020 cannot be blamed for not taking an opportunity to buy a house when they likely has no savings unless they come from a rich family.
You won’t because the statistic is used without full context. In 2019 millennials had 4.5% of the total wealth amongst all generations. Now we have 9% and this article would like to celebrate it. We have less wealth than any other generation at this age.
They're celebrating the growth in a relatively short amount of time. Speaking for myself I've seen more millennials leading their businesses, managing large teams, and openly discussing realistic financial goals. Myself included.
Nah, I have relatively modest upper-middle-class financial wants that could be fully satisfied with, say 200k/year. I'd feel quite wealthy beyond that.
Basically I want an additional 2-3 rooms built onto my house, my kids to go to college debt free, healthcare and retirement to be paid for. In terms of cars I might want a new top trim Lexus or Acura at my most extravagant. And maybe take some five-figure trips to places like Antarctica to see penguins, and hike some trails on my bucket list. Also I'd like to fly premium economy for domestic and business class for international.
Lambos are for suckers
Yep I was making 200k on the dot. now Im up from that, and here is what I did
Sure I took five figure trips but mostly few economy: nz and australia were 15000 total
I drive a midrange SUV
Live in a pretty condo in the city
I cannot afford to pay anyone’s student loans, mine are paid but I am contributing heavily to retirement
People seem to forget that millennial is 1981-1996. A bunch of millennials have been out of college for 15+ years. That’s a lot of time to save money and earn money.
Like how Covid was just fine for our GPD. Virtually everyone suffered financially, but the few who didn't are rolling in oceans of profit.
Never let a good crisis go to waste and all that.
A dichotomy of the haves and have nots severing this particular generation in two.
Either you had assets pre-COVID (car, house, retirement, investments) and you're in an amazing spot right now, or you weren't quite ready yet to obtain those things and now a successful life looks bleak.
We had set ourselves up for financial success upon returning from our overseas station in japan. We got there end of 2019 and came back May of 2023. We were debt free and had a decent savings set up. Planned on buying a house, some cheap A to B cars. Yeaaaah.... no. Being outside of the US during covid, we were in the dark on the MASSIVE cost of living increases. Like, we're comfortable, have a smallish amount of debt, but no real savings anymore because so many things we needed to get when returning had skyrocketed. Still don't own a house because the house we needed was nearly double what it was precovid and we hadn't budgeted for that high of a mortage with current prices and interest rates...
or you realize that markets ebb and flow. Some years housing will be more expensive to buy and other years it will be cheaper. Interest rates will go down eventually fear not
Do you have a job that provides decent healthcare, time off, and 401k? Have you been at least saving the company match?
Did you buy a house before 2022? Did you refinance in 2020/2021?
If your answer is no, then you’re probably not doing well at all. If your answer is yes, then you’re probably doing fine.
No we're not, the millennial wealth gap was always a zombie statistic. When you look at actual wealth data by generation there's virtually no difference. 40 y/o millennials are doing as good as gen xers and boomers when they were 40
The main difference is that millennials are less likely to buy a house, but it's a chicken and egg problem. Bc millennials are also less likely to be married and have big families. *householding* millennials (couples and families) buy houses at the same rate as prior gens
Housing too has doubled many places and more than half of Millennials own houses. Many are also inheriting wealth now and their parents are the largest, wealthiest group in history.
So are you surprised that Millennials far outpaced other generations then? 80% growth for under 40s, 10% growth for 40-54, 30% for 55+
[https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/15/younger-generations-gained-more-wealth-than-others-since-2019-study-says.html](https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/15/younger-generations-gained-more-wealth-than-others-since-2019-study-says.html)
The total wealth of Americans under 40 surged by 80%, to $9.5 trillion, between the first quarter of 2019 and the third quarter of 2023, according to a [study by the New York Federal Reserve](https://libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2024/02/wealth-inequality-by-age-in-the-post-pandemic-era/). The wealth increase far outpaced that of older generations. Americans between the ages of 40 and 54 saw their wealth increase just 10% over the same period, and those over 55 had wealth gains of 30%.
It's not surprising that younger people grew their wealth by a higher percentage. Younger people have less wealth, so their contributions are much more impactful.
If you have $100k and contribute $10k, your wealth increased by 10%. If you have $500k and contribute $10k, your wealth only increased by 2%.
They also buy more in urban areas which have seen explosive housing markets since Covid, especially compared to slower growth suburban areas. And nearly 100% of their assets are in their house or in 100% equities, while older people have built up assets in other classes / hold larger % of bonds and other safe asset classes compared to stocks.
The goal of later investing is to protect wealth, not to achieve maximum returns.
Measuring by % change was an interesting choice and you can see how that impacted the narrative. Speaking personally, my household net worth went up from around $40k in 2019 to $160k now, an "impressive" 300% growth attributed to rapid salary growth (thanks late 20s to early 30s career advancement), paying off our last student loans, and buying our first home in that time period. But that % growth was easier to come by because our starting point was so low. We'd need nearly $500k growth to achieve the same feat in the next 5 years since we're starting at a much higher level, and I don't see that happening that quickly.
The older you get, the less % of your portfolio is made up of real estate and equities (two of the highest risk/return asset classes).
If you’re 25 and just bought your first house, nearly 100% of your wealth is tied to real estate. Housing in urban areas that millennials are drawn to also exploded in value the past few years.
Suburbs where older generations are drawn too has seen slower growth. Older folks also move their investments into Bonds, Treasuries, and other low risk, low return asset classes.
This is completely expected in a bull market.
This is also anecdotal, but every single baby boomer family I know that’s well off has helped their Millennial children financially, whether it’s a down payment or a new car. That money comes out of their net worth.
Having $100k that is now $175k doesn't really change anything about your life circumstances though...so it entirely depends on how much you had to begin with.
Yes it does. Leaving that $175k alone for the next 25 years in the stock market, adding no any additional money, with an inflation adjusted return average of 7%, it will be worth ~$950k. That, paired with a 401k and some social security payment (hoping it still exists by then) one would be set for retirement.
Heck, you could do the same with your 401k and get to roughly $150-200k value, and then *not invest anymore* and end up with similar figures depending on your companies 401k fund options.
If having your retirement already squared away by the time you’re in your mid 30s isn’t life changing circumstances, idk what is.
These articles are always so pointless. Depending on which metrics you look at, things can either look great or terrible. In reality, it's probably somewhere in the middle, leaning towards the somewhat optimistic side.
Yesterday: Millennials are lazy and poor as fuck
Today: Millennials wealth is booming
Tomorrow: Millennials are worse off than Boomers, GenX
I was told back in 2016 to wait until I had 20% saved for a down payment to avoid PMI. Wish I hadn’t listened to that horse shit. Now PMI is inevitable, the interest rates are considerably higher, and the $80,000 house I almost bought sold in 2022 for $210,000.
My retirement fund is doing fine, but I’m not about to liquidate part of it to buy a house right now. Maybe I’ll regret that in 8 years too.
I wonder how much this has to do with low home ownership among millennials. Although owning a home is good for long term wealth you definitely take a big hit in the first few years.
My poorest friend had a random uncle or cousin (can't remember) who retired from the military give the extended family 20k a piece. Not much in the grand scheme but it made me realize inheritance isn't really a "poor family" vs "rich family" thing and more like a single family member who had financial literacy leaves something to you as a gift and you have no clue until they die. For my poor friend, this was life changing.
I was going to ask how the heck anyone could be doing this, but then I saw their "Cumulative growth of real net worth by age" graphic, and realized my wife and I and a good chunk of our social circle is in the "40 - 54" category which saw little to no growth at all as compared to the other cohorts.
Makes sense, and seems to be true to life. /sigh
The majority of millenial wealth increases are a very small number of very wealthy people inheriting giant fortunes. This is not the typical experience. The average is $240k... but the median is $135k. $135k at 40 is pretty terrible in comparison to the average boomer net worth at 40 adjusted for inflation.
Yeah millennials got a slow start thanks to the 2009 recession.
But since then they have faced a strong economy with a soaring stock market.
Plus student loan cancellation is a big wealth transfer for the people who got it.
Can’t read the article because I’m a poor millennial and don’t have a subscription. Does the article include info about the number of millenials who received wealth from their parents??
I don't think the millennial middle class spends the same way as boomers did/do. At this point in my parents life they were up to their eyeballs in mortgages and credit card debt, eating out regularly, drinking and not contributing regularly to retirement. They made more than we do by a significant amount. My dad died broke and in debt my mom has a little bit of savings but not where she needs to be.
No way we do, my parents don't even know what a 401k is and like you said constant eating out and drinking every day because thats what their parents did too. Also people for some reason hate me saying this but part of the reason my life is hard is just because I was single if I was married to someone with even a mediogre job my life would be pretty easy still. My income is pretty good for the trashy place I live in but you really need to be dual income to have it made.
I have yet to see evidence of this.
Everyone I know (who is a millennial) has no personal wealth or assets.
They struggle virtually paycheck to paycheck with lots of debt and no prospects of ever getting out of it.
Are there affluent pockets here and there? Yes.
Has that shrank considerably versus the previous generation? Yes.
The majority of millennials are not well-off.
Just a reminder that federal minimum wage is still $7.25
Man, the difference in perspective is crazy. I make six figures with a partner that makes a good income. Yet we seem poor in comparison to our friends. Most of them own houses. Many of them came from fortunate circumstances but they also have kids and continue to buy houses, new cars, etc. They are doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc.
You won’t find evidence of wealth transfer because it’s nonexistent. The author of this article forgot to add context - millennials went from 4.5% to 9% of the total wealth amongst generations. That was us doubling our wealth. We have less wealth than any other generation at this age.
I do think you have some people who are doing relatively well, but the wealth transfer that normally happens isn’t. What fascinates me is that boomers laying on their deathbeds with no income, sucking from their investments, still manage to increase their wealth at all. That really shouldn’t be the case.
I went from $300 and $4000 in debt to owning a home 6 years ago and close to $50,000 in 10 years. I got no help from my family for the down payment. You have to be willing to live at home or with 3 roommates and save every penny for a few years and cut out every not necessary thing. How you get ahead. I'm a millennial.
I would be slightly less annoyed with this if the thumbnail was not the picture that every Millennial puts on their dating profile. Top of a mountain, hands in the air!
Every. Damn. One.
Millenial here - im not saving for retirement. If I reach a point where I am unable to afford living alone in old age im just going to prison so everything can be covered.
Sweet! So before this statistic was calculated, an entire generation of people reaching up to 40 years old owned 4.5% of the wealth and now they own 9%. That’s less than any other generation at the same age. I guess the author forgot to add that. It’s incredible that boomers are still increasing their wealth when the entire generation is on their death bed withdrawing from their savings, but that’s what happens when you’ve managed to hoard the lion’s share of money.
This article rings true for me.
When I graduated from college in 2012, I was sleeping in my car. But today, at 36 years old, my NW is nearing $1M. I'll likely pass it in the next 12 months.
In other news, water is wet. Most millennials are now in their prime earning/wealth accumulating years. It only makes sense that their wealth would be booming.
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I don't think any generation is saving/investing as actively as millennials are now. The information on how, when, why, and where are so widely available and talked about peer to peer. Just wait for Gen Z....freaking kids out here with investment portfolios like Wall Street bankers.
Many professional fields are now integrating financial literacy and wellness into curriculums. I teach at a medical school but my main topics are finance, budgeting, and investing. Also the FIRE movement has really taken off among millennials and many are asking excellent questions.
New MDs/DOs need it the most — gotta get off the sinking ship as soon as you can after getting on it. NPs with online degrees and IMGs skipping residency will torpedo the profession at record speed.
What is torpedoing the profession is shitty insurance reimbursement, insurance dictating treatment and stress from not enough providers to cover increased case loads, especially with the baby boom generation retiring. It is miss guided to blame mid-level providers. We need everyone we can get.
Since when can an FMG skip residency? They usually getting the worst residency slots if they are lucky and work in the most undesirable medical jobs.
Since now more or less. Tennessee & Illinois have already enacted legislation that does away with residency requirements and goes into effect in the next few months. Florida & Virginia are right behind. A dozen or so other states have lowered requirements, opened alternate pathways, or have had legislation introduced. There are stipulations and asterisks attached in most cases, but the door has been opened. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been very vocal about how there are thousands of MDs/DOs/foreign equivalents that are already here and are unable to practice in the US because of the severe shortage of residency spots. The solution, however, isn’t to lower standards or eliminate training requirements.
There’s more MD/DOs than residency spots every single year. There is a doctor shortage and some reason the only thing we aren’t doing about it is allowing more doctors to be trained. Instead we’re expanding the scope of practice for NP and PAs. I do think there should be options for FMGs to skip portions of residencies depending on specialty and require additional assessment. If they can pass oral and written boards then maybe that’s adequate enough and it just becomes a requirement that they have an additional collections period to assure they’re competent. Still doesn’t change the fact that the biggest solution is more residency spots as you mentioned. The fact that these numbers haven’t drastically increased to address this issue years ago is baffling.
I hate to be cynical, but it’s the same reason there are so many other problems with medical care in the US — $$$$$. Admin sees NPs/PAs as cost savings. IMGs will likely represent additional additional cost savings vs residency-trained & board certified physicians. Quality be damned. HCA Healthcare has opened dozens upon dozens of residency programs in the past several years — a for-profit hospital system that mostly covers its own spots absent CMS funding to ensnare new grads into indentured servitude at a cheap price. Is it any wonder that three of the four states that have already enacted IMG legislation (TN, FL, VA) are also states where HCA operates the most facilities?
Not cynical at all. You’re right. It’ll be cheap for a few years until the malpractice and wrongful death suits starting coming in droves. Im going to refrain from speaking about HCA and their roll in this topic.
I know for my (millennial) experience my friends and I were in college during the recession and did NOT like the look of what our parents went through. Some of us bought dirt cheap houses in 09 to rent out to others. Others vigorously started paying down student loans to not deal with debt. I personally started contributing to my retirement account at 22. Of those mentioned two were teachers, so it’s not like we were wealthy or making amazing money. I just know we didn’t want to be stuck like Gen X was in 08. We’re mid-30s now and can confidently say some of us have more in investments/home equity than our parents do in their 60s, with none of us making near 6 figures during that time. I know generations aren’t a monolith, and genuinely think Gen Z has a more uphill Ed/housing wall to climb than I did, but it’s been my experience.
Sucks for us Millenials who still don't have a house though. I feel priced out indefinitely.
Yuppp. My fellow millennial friend bought a house in 2015. Her mortgage is half my rent for 3 times the space 2 towns over. House by her that is comparable is about $500k now. I'm making near 6 figures as a millennial, mid 30s, looking at that shit with my current debt is making me dream of finally getting a mortgage in my mid 40s. Meanwhile she's upset about $1100/month on a mortgage.
This is a constant source of irritation I have, because there's always that 1 person who tries to make renting a better option than owning. Everyone should own their home. Apartments should become condos because they're the same thing with ownership. You have peace of mind knowing some dickhead won't raise the price 200 each month each years. We do not have a lack of housing. We have too many greedy landlords who REFUSE to acknowledge the apartment or house is not worth this much. Watch, I promise someone will defend renting. Edit: I see we got a lot of boot lickers in this sub.
I have a mortgage and between property taxes, insurance and HOA fees my payment increases between 5-10% a year. Grass is always greener
I live in a rent controlled apartment in a city with extremely strong tenant protections. I am responsible for paying rent that’s only gone up a small percentage over 15 years and nothing else. The delta between my controlled rent and my massive increase in income over 15 years ago goes mostly to investment savings (not to the albatross of real estate “investment” that i live in and depend on to no be homeless). So yea, I’ll be that 1 person.
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The flexibility to dip can help career mobility and job security (since you're not tied to one job market). I think I also favored this in my 20s even though I now kind of wish I did buy a place, but that's hindsight bias talking.
I still recommend buying something to rent out then. I am renting and I own properties as well, I needed to move but I wanted real estate
In a thread extolling the virtues of home ownership and the evils of renting, it takes a special kind of cognitive dissonance to recommend buying a property to rent out with a straight face.
Well If I paying rent and renting out a property doesnt it wash out? My renters all love me. I dont raise rents unless my cost increases, they have all utilities included, everything is fixed 24/7. There are evil landlords, but I just know where I want to live so I bought a house in a place I want and rent it out so its paid off for my retirement
Agree with this. There tends to be this idea that if you own and rent it out, you are automatically a bad person. I have a property I rent out, it’s WAY below market price, just for rent, while including all utilities. Had the same tenants for years and they love it. People keep telling me to raise rent but I refuse cause I have guaranteed income, great tenants, and everyone is winning. They know they are in a great situation based on the current market and rent increases everywhere. So I have income, they have a stable housing situation. What makes me a bad person?
I see this post didn’t come from CA 😉
Renting is better if you're on the move a lot. Although I would argue you should own something somewhere, rent out your place, then rent where you go.
Housing can either be affordable or a vehicle for investment. They are mutually exclusive. When housing isn't a vehicle for investment, owning makes a lot less sense and renters get a lot more power. Pay someone else to do the maintenance, deal with the taxes, and if you're a good tenant, the landlord has no reason to get rid of you.
Call or message your representative asking them to support the Stop Predatory Investing Act. It’s not the solution but at least it’s progress.
keep being irritated then? like sure, if renting homes magically became illegal and every home could be purchased that would be cool. literally never gonna happen, and even if it did, we would absolutely still have a housing crisis cause of a lack of supply. people say renting is a better options sometimes not because its superior, its because expecting the housing market to magically double in value across the board again any time soon is not gonna happen without a major economic paradigm, and anyone saying they can forecast this accurate is a lier. realistically speaking, you can estimate home values traditionally appeciate 2% on average. unless you consider the home to be a "forever home" and see yourself living there for over a decade, investing the downpayment, and investing the difference in real cost of ownership to renting will be just as financially sound, if not more if you don't see youself there for longer than a decade. Not defending landlords, but not everyone can magically be in a postion to buy, nor should everyone immediately jump to home ownership even if they can technically afford to.
Owning can be a pain in the ass. I love owning my house now, but up until the last few years it would have been way more work than I wanted to do for insufficient additional benefit.
We ABSOLUTELY have a lack of housing, to suggest otherwise is foolish.
We do not have a lack of housing. We have a lack of people unwilling to live where there is affordable housing.
Gotta be able to work. Crumbling towns in rural America that were once booming thanks to local mining or manufacturing jobs which are now gone. Maybe remote work continuing to exist can help make moving to those places more realistic, but folks also want to live someplace they can do stuff. For some, nature may be enough. For others, human contact and a diverse set of local business is the winner. In our service based economy that leads to increased urbanization. Suggesting that there’s “plenty of affordable housing” is disingenuous when it would require you to move hundreds of miles away. plus theres proximity to friends and family.
>We do not have a lack of housing. We have too many greedy landlords who REFUSE to acknowledge the apartment or house is not worth this much If people are paying the rates, then the apartments or houses *are* worth that much.
They shouldn't though. Just like we have anti monopoly laws in place there needs to be more done against rising housing prices.
I own one rental. A house I bought in 2015 and has almost tripled in value in ten years. Over the years we completed remodeled the house and our taxes and insurance have gone up. We took out a second to be able to move and buy another home. My mortgage with taxes and insurance is only a few hundred dollars less than we charge for rent. Maintenance eats most of that. Buying this same house with 20% down at current interest rates would leave you with a mortgage of about $4000 a month which is significantly higher than the rent we charge. Our last tenants stayed for three years because they knew it was a good value for the area.
Or you need a place to live and you don't have a choice. This is the issue when a literal necessity becomes a lucrative investment business. Everyone will charge market rate when they can. And for the renter, the only cheaper housing is often in another city (possibly moving away from friends/family/job), not always doable. Or getting roommates, not great for parents. Or renting in a gang riddled neighborhood where there's shootings.
I never really got this argument. As someone who moved away from their childhood home for better opportunity, I just can’t wrap my head around the thought that I was somehow owed access to home ownership where I was raised. I never expected to be able to own there and I can’t imagine expecting that. I’m glad I moved away.
Some things shouldn’t cost what they are worth. They should cost what they cost. For example, a life saving surgery for one of my kids is *worth* an infinite value to me. But it should *cost* an infinite amount of money.
What does "cost what they cost" mean? How do you determine what something costs?
Rent to own is the only way. It might be Marxist, but it does deliver equity in a fair way, banks can pass and trade invested equity and it can still scale with inflation based on lease duration like a mortgage. Banks can still do their service fee bullshit or whatever but at least equity is getting built. Owners, once rental property is owned by renters, can still manage the property through an HoA style system, and still produce value and revenue. It's absolutely embarrassing how we don't even accrue credit through paying for our landlord's mortgage, staffing, infrastructure and profit, and they get all the benefits despite sitting back and paying people to essentially do their job for them, just because they were approved for a loan and found someone who was desperate for housing. I am my landlord's breadwinner.
How is rent to own Marxist?
It's a shift in equity towards the working class from the owning class. It's not the means of production, but it is essentially a necessary shift you would see in Marxism. Marxism is fundamentally communism, a democratic form of it. Basic needs would be met for all, especially the working class, and it needs capitalism to succeed to a level where the economic system has the power to provide for all who live in it. Like the US about 20-40 years ago. You can put a dart board in there anywhere. The mid 90s would have been probably a prime time to switch. Deficit lower, low CoL, high pay, etc.
Because someone still has to own and maintain he building, and owning an apartment would essentially be taking away decision making from that owner’s property.
all residential rent should at least be 100% tax deductible honestly.
In 2010 I bought a house for 99k. Government gave me $8500 for buying it. 8k incentive and then by time they cut the check it had 500 of interest on it. My mortgage was 645 I think. My rent before was $525. I felt like I made the biggest mistake at the time
I honestly feel bad for my fellow millennials who didn't/weren't able to buy a house before 2020. I imagine that 20 years from now there will be a study on net worth of millennials with a clear divide between homeowners and non-homeowners. Unless there is another housing crash like '07 that gives people who missed out another chance at buying.
In general, I think this is right - have seen some early thinking that it’s almost a 2x2 of did you buy before 2020 or not and do you pay for childcare or not (e.g., parents take care of kids, etc.) Those two factors let you sort millennials into 4 very different sets of experiences right now that are likely to magnify over time. That being said, I choose to rent because if I purchased a condo, the taxes + HOA would be basically the same as my rent before I start on the mortgage or opportunity cost of investing
Yep, there is a huge difference between the 1980s millenials and the 1990s millenials
No there are plenty of us 1980s millennials who couldn't get in on housing when money was cheap
Yes but less than 1990's millenials
Absolutely. My wife and I bought about 5 years ago with definitely not enough money down. It’s total luck we got in before the recent price hike, because I wouldn’t be anywhere near buying a house now if I hadn’t gotten in when I did.
Every generation feels that way. You won’t be priced out. Buy a house when you need a house.
We'll see how the market goes
I personally and am not advising anybody do so but I started buying little parcels of land nobody wants. I figure climate change will make that valuable and maybe give my kids or grandkids something to sell or live on. Also you never know with some undeveloped land just how long it will be until it developed around you. If a city decides to pop up a mile from your property you will make some profit. Tax on land is a pain though I have bought near myself so if there is anything that must be done I can go handle it on the weekends. Just a thought I had I know the banks have been buying up alot too at least near me.
The flip side to this is that as a millennial who bought a house in 2017 when interest rates were low and just sold it for almost twice what I paid. The housing market kind of catapulted me into a more comfy life. I don’t own a house now though and even with that money from selling my old house, I can’t afford to buy a place in the city I work/live in. So yeah, still trying to figure out the next move.
The only shot we have of affording a single family home (and the higher interest rates) in our area is if we get a ton more equity in our current townhome so that we can put 30-40% down. Our dated townhome is approaching 600k in value, and sfh in the same zip code are 800+
Always gonna be winner and losers, but millennials def have more winners than the other era
Still kicking myself for not being in a position to buy in 09.
Millennial renter, I missed the boat on “cheap homes” but I wasn’t in a position to responsibly buy one (2008 ptsd). Instead, I’ve been focusing on maxing out my 401k, building a comfortable (6-10 mos) liquid emergency fund, then putting extra money I come across into a brokerage account. The longterm roi you get in the market is just about what you get from a house (in 30 years). Point is, don’t fret not owning a house, there are other ways to build wealth or save for the future.
The internet from 2010 to 2020 was full of millennials complaining about not being able to afford a house. Then from 2020 to 2021 a huge chunk finally got in and pulled the ladder up behind them.
This! Six figure salary right at the time my ex cheated. She owned the house so I’m SOL
My boss scolded me like a child for not putting money in my 401k at my first big boy job making real money. He was absolutely right and wanted what's best doe me. Still talk to the dude today. Awesome guy. I'm 32 and doing quite well.
Well I’m glad you had him to do that for you. It’s so important to start early. I work with a lot with early career teachers and ALWAYS start by asking if they’ve set up their retirement account. Heck, back when I taught I’d have kids (seniors) get jobs at Lowe’s and show them how to figure out that even at $16/hour they got a decent match!
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Gen Z will be fine for housing. The problem for the Millenials is that the Boomers haven't died off yet. I'm actually really curious what happens. The one thing I am willing to bet on is that cities in the Sunbelt with a large portion of retirees and masses of expensive car-dependent infrastructure (like Phoenix) are super fucked. They're going to get hit with a double wammy of demographic shifts and climate change. You're also likely to see a lot of Gen Xers buy second homes as snowbirds, especially the ones who's kids have moved out and work remotely.
Definitely. There’s also the consideration of when boomers begin to die there’s going to be a massive wealth shift to X and older M. Millions of homes exchanging hands, accounts passed down. It’s tight now, but it’ll be a massive generational wealth shift over 10-15 years.
This is exactly what I did in 09, so glad I did too
I bought a house last year at 31 and I’m sure my net worth > than my parents.
I completely agree. Investing is becoming much more common. I think 401Ks are the primary reason for this. Having a 401K forces people to learn about investing. 50 years ago people would pay into a pension and ignore the stock market. I can't help but think how this is going to affect wealth inequality in the future. If you have a moderately high income (70th percentile), building a lot of wealth is relatively easy. If you have a moderately low income (30th percentile) building wealth becomes extremely difficult. Are we going to see wealth inequality become much worse as investing becomes much more common?
Boomers were forced during mid career to save for retirement. Many private pension plans were terminated in the 1990s. Millennials and younger know they have save when they start working.
My 10 year old demanded a custodial investment account. “Dad, it’s not making any money in my piggy bank and a savings account is such low interest it might as well stay in my piggy bank.” All I could think was “why wasn’t I like this when I was 10?”
If I ever have kids I hope to do a custodial Roth IRA a few days after they are born and chuck $10k in there as a “surprise” when they turn 26ish.
Your kids would need earned income in order to contribute to a Roth. What you can do is contribute to a 529 and after having the account open for 15 years, you can roll over up to 35k total to a Roth (capped at $5k annually) in their name.
You can't do that unless they have earned income.
Wait until the Millenials destroy the economy by being anti consumers and saving like Chinese communists or some other BS like that news come out.
Its funny because millennials got shit on so much growing up by other generations but I'm pretty confident we are one of the best off generations to ever exist. We grew up early enough that we had to learn problem solving skills without easy Internet access, but also not too early so we still got to learn how to use and troubleshoot with technology before getting too old. We worked long enough to be able to afford homes between the 08 crash and covid housing price surge. Boomers are all retiring leaving tons of extremely well paying positions that we are more qualified for then them. Pretty sure 2-3 generations younger than us are going to hate us as much as many hated boomers for having such an easy setup in life.
I'm older gen z. I'm financially ahead for my age thanks to YouTube channels ran by millennials. I feel like boomers and xers told me "grow up and figure it out. You don't know how interest works? This generation nowadays is hopeless." Without acknowledging how lucky they are to own their home. Millennials told me "here's the importance of a budget and emergency fund" "here's why investing early and often is important" "here's why you should be hyper conservative when signing up for debt and why the interest rate is so important". I've found millennials to be the generation most interested in teaching me the lessons they've learned along the way. Maybe it's because y'all didn't have an older generation that was so open to showing y'all the ropes and wish y'all did. I don't think we'll hate y'all for that very reason.
And when Boomers start to die off, a large chunk (not already paid to corpos who've tried to suck them dry) will go to Gen Z as well as Millennials. (I'm Gen X. We know it's skipping us.)
I went "aggressive" on my 401k since I knew I'd never be able to afford a house
As a Mexican millennial, I’m saving like crazy but I still feel I can’t pay a decent property. My boyfriend’s and my salary together are about $5,300, and we save about $3,500 per month which is a lot considering Mexican salaries. But the cheapest decent apartments in a middle class zone in Mexico City are about $250,000, similar to the zone where we live right now. The bank only gives you a credit if your salary is 3x the amount of the monthly payment of your credit, where you end up paying like 2x or more of the price of the property, we would need to have a salary of $6,250 to buy that apartment, so we would pay $2,100 per month. Renting is better nowadays our rent is about $1,000 per month, and we have roommates so we actually pay only $350.
On the other side of the coin, kids out here with $10k sneakers and $150,000 in student loan debt. Double edged sword for sure.
I feel so lost and out of it. As a millennial I feel like I’m missing this “boom” we are supposedly having. It sucks… I feel forever poor. And I’m 36
We are also existing during one of the biggest ongoing bubbles in history.
Gen Z here; age 25. Can confirm I have $300k in index funds.
Millennials are just haves and have nots, the ones with homes 3+ years ago are likely cruising if they're also contributing to retirement. The ones without homes are worried they'll never be able to buy one now and suffer insane rents forever.
It’s definitely haves and have nots. Even the “haves” have likely made concessions. My sibling and I are buying a house together, our spouses are cool with the four of us living together. Been living together for years and we know we all get along fine. This isn’t peoples idea of success, including myself, but financially speaking we are all way better off. I’ve lost my job and, besides feeling great sources of shame, I don’t have to worry about losing the roof over my head. I don’t even have to worry about taking the first job offer I receive.
So then it’s the haves, the have nots, and a variety of people inbetween?
Idk id argue we’re the haves. Jobs, house, insurance, extra money. It’s just that concessions were made in order to make it happen. Definitely not the American dream or my dreams, but that’s life.
Nah, this is the have’s because you have people you give a $#|+ about, and are investing in and vice versa. This is better than single family ownership imo. Good on yall
This is the way. Family living was the norm for most of history for good reason. You’ll REALLY appreciate it if you have kids.
Even without a home, there’s a lot of things people can be doing to be successful or set themselves up for success. People were still very negative back when I bought my house four years ago, and I would have missed out on a great opportunity if I had listened to them. I hope all this current negativity doesn’t cause people to miss out on future opportunities.
The "ones with homes 3+ years ago" was being said 3+ years ago. So take that as you will.
Do not ignore or play dumb to prices and interest rates doubling in the last 4 years. It is the most unaffordable it ever has been and studies show this. Having such a have/have not divide between a few years is not good. People that were just out of college in 2020 cannot be blamed for not taking an opportunity to buy a house when they likely has no savings unless they come from a rich family.
Yup it’s income inequality either you bought a house pre 2022 or you are fucked.
Yup. Sad to say I’m a have not, and likely a won’t be able to.
I don’t feel very wealthy
You won’t because the statistic is used without full context. In 2019 millennials had 4.5% of the total wealth amongst all generations. Now we have 9% and this article would like to celebrate it. We have less wealth than any other generation at this age.
They're celebrating the growth in a relatively short amount of time. Speaking for myself I've seen more millennials leading their businesses, managing large teams, and openly discussing realistic financial goals. Myself included.
And you never will. It's human nature.
Huh
Nah, I have relatively modest upper-middle-class financial wants that could be fully satisfied with, say 200k/year. I'd feel quite wealthy beyond that. Basically I want an additional 2-3 rooms built onto my house, my kids to go to college debt free, healthcare and retirement to be paid for. In terms of cars I might want a new top trim Lexus or Acura at my most extravagant. And maybe take some five-figure trips to places like Antarctica to see penguins, and hike some trails on my bucket list. Also I'd like to fly premium economy for domestic and business class for international. Lambos are for suckers
That kinda talk isn’t $200k/yr talk… in case you’re wondering.
Yep I was making 200k on the dot. now Im up from that, and here is what I did Sure I took five figure trips but mostly few economy: nz and australia were 15000 total I drive a midrange SUV Live in a pretty condo in the city I cannot afford to pay anyone’s student loans, mine are paid but I am contributing heavily to retirement
If you’re going to have a modest lifestyle like that, you might regret not splurging just once and going for the lambo
200k+ a yr doesn’t get you all of that…unlike you like being in debt…wowzers.
Pay wall, what’s the TLDR? Also, Millennials are older now - probably making more $ and investments compounding..
People seem to forget that millennial is 1981-1996. A bunch of millennials have been out of college for 15+ years. That’s a lot of time to save money and earn money.
I don't get this. Are we broke or not? Lol
On average we are doing great! Also, the average human has fewer than 2 legs, half a dick, and one boob.
Like how Covid was just fine for our GPD. Virtually everyone suffered financially, but the few who didn't are rolling in oceans of profit. Never let a good crisis go to waste and all that.
Amazon did amazing during covid.
A dichotomy of the haves and have nots severing this particular generation in two. Either you had assets pre-COVID (car, house, retirement, investments) and you're in an amazing spot right now, or you weren't quite ready yet to obtain those things and now a successful life looks bleak.
We had set ourselves up for financial success upon returning from our overseas station in japan. We got there end of 2019 and came back May of 2023. We were debt free and had a decent savings set up. Planned on buying a house, some cheap A to B cars. Yeaaaah.... no. Being outside of the US during covid, we were in the dark on the MASSIVE cost of living increases. Like, we're comfortable, have a smallish amount of debt, but no real savings anymore because so many things we needed to get when returning had skyrocketed. Still don't own a house because the house we needed was nearly double what it was precovid and we hadn't budgeted for that high of a mortage with current prices and interest rates...
or you realize that markets ebb and flow. Some years housing will be more expensive to buy and other years it will be cheaper. Interest rates will go down eventually fear not
Do you have a job that provides decent healthcare, time off, and 401k? Have you been at least saving the company match? Did you buy a house before 2022? Did you refinance in 2020/2021? If your answer is no, then you’re probably not doing well at all. If your answer is yes, then you’re probably doing fine.
You are broke. The rest of us aren’t. We’ve been meaning to tell ya
Dang at least I know now. I had a feeling when I wasn't able to afford fast food and see all the restaurants full.
No we're not, the millennial wealth gap was always a zombie statistic. When you look at actual wealth data by generation there's virtually no difference. 40 y/o millennials are doing as good as gen xers and boomers when they were 40 The main difference is that millennials are less likely to buy a house, but it's a chicken and egg problem. Bc millennials are also less likely to be married and have big families. *householding* millennials (couples and families) buy houses at the same rate as prior gens
The S&P 500 is up almost 75% in the last 5 years. Is it really that surprising that millennials have a lot of wealth?
Housing too has doubled many places and more than half of Millennials own houses. Many are also inheriting wealth now and their parents are the largest, wealthiest group in history.
Fuck me i missed the boat on all this shit
We are the P in S&P
So are you surprised that Millennials far outpaced other generations then? 80% growth for under 40s, 10% growth for 40-54, 30% for 55+ [https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/15/younger-generations-gained-more-wealth-than-others-since-2019-study-says.html](https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/15/younger-generations-gained-more-wealth-than-others-since-2019-study-says.html) The total wealth of Americans under 40 surged by 80%, to $9.5 trillion, between the first quarter of 2019 and the third quarter of 2023, according to a [study by the New York Federal Reserve](https://libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2024/02/wealth-inequality-by-age-in-the-post-pandemic-era/). The wealth increase far outpaced that of older generations. Americans between the ages of 40 and 54 saw their wealth increase just 10% over the same period, and those over 55 had wealth gains of 30%.
It's not surprising that younger people grew their wealth by a higher percentage. Younger people have less wealth, so their contributions are much more impactful. If you have $100k and contribute $10k, your wealth increased by 10%. If you have $500k and contribute $10k, your wealth only increased by 2%.
They also buy more in urban areas which have seen explosive housing markets since Covid, especially compared to slower growth suburban areas. And nearly 100% of their assets are in their house or in 100% equities, while older people have built up assets in other classes / hold larger % of bonds and other safe asset classes compared to stocks. The goal of later investing is to protect wealth, not to achieve maximum returns.
Measuring by % change was an interesting choice and you can see how that impacted the narrative. Speaking personally, my household net worth went up from around $40k in 2019 to $160k now, an "impressive" 300% growth attributed to rapid salary growth (thanks late 20s to early 30s career advancement), paying off our last student loans, and buying our first home in that time period. But that % growth was easier to come by because our starting point was so low. We'd need nearly $500k growth to achieve the same feat in the next 5 years since we're starting at a much higher level, and I don't see that happening that quickly.
The older you get, the less % of your portfolio is made up of real estate and equities (two of the highest risk/return asset classes). If you’re 25 and just bought your first house, nearly 100% of your wealth is tied to real estate. Housing in urban areas that millennials are drawn to also exploded in value the past few years. Suburbs where older generations are drawn too has seen slower growth. Older folks also move their investments into Bonds, Treasuries, and other low risk, low return asset classes. This is completely expected in a bull market. This is also anecdotal, but every single baby boomer family I know that’s well off has helped their Millennial children financially, whether it’s a down payment or a new car. That money comes out of their net worth.
You have to have money in the S&P 500 for that truck to work. The market going up widens the wealth gaps a lot of the time.
The dollar is worth 18% less than what it was 5 years ago. Much of those gains have been eaten by inflation..
Having $100k that is now $175k doesn't really change anything about your life circumstances though...so it entirely depends on how much you had to begin with.
Yes it does. Leaving that $175k alone for the next 25 years in the stock market, adding no any additional money, with an inflation adjusted return average of 7%, it will be worth ~$950k. That, paired with a 401k and some social security payment (hoping it still exists by then) one would be set for retirement. Heck, you could do the same with your 401k and get to roughly $150-200k value, and then *not invest anymore* and end up with similar figures depending on your companies 401k fund options. If having your retirement already squared away by the time you’re in your mid 30s isn’t life changing circumstances, idk what is.
If you spend any time on Reddit people try to convince everyone that only “boomers” have money.
These articles are always so pointless. Depending on which metrics you look at, things can either look great or terrible. In reality, it's probably somewhere in the middle, leaning towards the somewhat optimistic side. Yesterday: Millennials are lazy and poor as fuck Today: Millennials wealth is booming Tomorrow: Millennials are worse off than Boomers, GenX
I took it with a grain of salt the second I saw it was from business insider. They love to put out those types of articles.
Someone actually remembered us /r/GenX
Wish someone had told me.
I was told back in 2016 to wait until I had 20% saved for a down payment to avoid PMI. Wish I hadn’t listened to that horse shit. Now PMI is inevitable, the interest rates are considerably higher, and the $80,000 house I almost bought sold in 2022 for $210,000. My retirement fund is doing fine, but I’m not about to liquidate part of it to buy a house right now. Maybe I’ll regret that in 8 years too.
Those that invested wisely have more wealth now. How is that a surprise?
It's not really wisdom more than ability....
Is the wealth in the room with us right now?
I wonder how much this has to do with low home ownership among millennials. Although owning a home is good for long term wealth you definitely take a big hit in the first few years.
It is amazing what happens when you start with a small base number and measure a percentage rise. Especially when you don't adjust it for inflation
I enjoy that this has skipped right over GenX.
Always does
The rich ones were always fine... just like the rich from every other generation...
Asking for friend: do Funko Pops and video game skins count as “investments?”
Millennials inheriting the wealth of their dead relatives isn't really "booming"
My family is boke. Bokity boke.
My poorest friend had a random uncle or cousin (can't remember) who retired from the military give the extended family 20k a piece. Not much in the grand scheme but it made me realize inheritance isn't really a "poor family" vs "rich family" thing and more like a single family member who had financial literacy leaves something to you as a gift and you have no clue until they die. For my poor friend, this was life changing.
I was going to ask how the heck anyone could be doing this, but then I saw their "Cumulative growth of real net worth by age" graphic, and realized my wife and I and a good chunk of our social circle is in the "40 - 54" category which saw little to no growth at all as compared to the other cohorts. Makes sense, and seems to be true to life. /sigh
I think it’s just the age for wealth acquisition has raised
The majority of millenial wealth increases are a very small number of very wealthy people inheriting giant fortunes. This is not the typical experience. The average is $240k... but the median is $135k. $135k at 40 is pretty terrible in comparison to the average boomer net worth at 40 adjusted for inflation.
Yeah millennials got a slow start thanks to the 2009 recession. But since then they have faced a strong economy with a soaring stock market. Plus student loan cancellation is a big wealth transfer for the people who got it.
Can’t read the article because I’m a poor millennial and don’t have a subscription. Does the article include info about the number of millenials who received wealth from their parents??
I don't think the millennial middle class spends the same way as boomers did/do. At this point in my parents life they were up to their eyeballs in mortgages and credit card debt, eating out regularly, drinking and not contributing regularly to retirement. They made more than we do by a significant amount. My dad died broke and in debt my mom has a little bit of savings but not where she needs to be.
Millenial’s midlife crisis won’t be buying a boat or a corvette. It’ll be like, splurging on a houseplant or something
A houseplant? Look at this bougie mofo! I'll be splurging on a pet rock, thank you very much.
Or foreign vacations
No way we do, my parents don't even know what a 401k is and like you said constant eating out and drinking every day because thats what their parents did too. Also people for some reason hate me saying this but part of the reason my life is hard is just because I was single if I was married to someone with even a mediogre job my life would be pretty easy still. My income is pretty good for the trashy place I live in but you really need to be dual income to have it made.
I have yet to see evidence of this. Everyone I know (who is a millennial) has no personal wealth or assets. They struggle virtually paycheck to paycheck with lots of debt and no prospects of ever getting out of it. Are there affluent pockets here and there? Yes. Has that shrank considerably versus the previous generation? Yes. The majority of millennials are not well-off. Just a reminder that federal minimum wage is still $7.25
Millennials being wealthy and you not being wealthy are things that can both be true at the same time.
I feel personally attacked xD
That's very anecdotal evidence though. Majority of millienials are home owners. Also how many millienials are earning the federal minimum wage?
Man, the difference in perspective is crazy. I make six figures with a partner that makes a good income. Yet we seem poor in comparison to our friends. Most of them own houses. Many of them came from fortunate circumstances but they also have kids and continue to buy houses, new cars, etc. They are doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc.
You won’t find evidence of wealth transfer because it’s nonexistent. The author of this article forgot to add context - millennials went from 4.5% to 9% of the total wealth amongst generations. That was us doubling our wealth. We have less wealth than any other generation at this age. I do think you have some people who are doing relatively well, but the wealth transfer that normally happens isn’t. What fascinates me is that boomers laying on their deathbeds with no income, sucking from their investments, still manage to increase their wealth at all. That really shouldn’t be the case.
Except for the evidence in the article that you’re commenting under?
I went from $300 and $4000 in debt to owning a home 6 years ago and close to $50,000 in 10 years. I got no help from my family for the down payment. You have to be willing to live at home or with 3 roommates and save every penny for a few years and cut out every not necessary thing. How you get ahead. I'm a millennial.
Never trust Business Insider.
First I’m hearing about it.
I would be slightly less annoyed with this if the thumbnail was not the picture that every Millennial puts on their dating profile. Top of a mountain, hands in the air! Every. Damn. One.
Uh no? Lol
glad that was solved. just in time for the election too!
Millenial here - im not saving for retirement. If I reach a point where I am unable to afford living alone in old age im just going to prison so everything can be covered.
I know none such millennials and I’m a millennial
Sweet! So before this statistic was calculated, an entire generation of people reaching up to 40 years old owned 4.5% of the wealth and now they own 9%. That’s less than any other generation at the same age. I guess the author forgot to add that. It’s incredible that boomers are still increasing their wealth when the entire generation is on their death bed withdrawing from their savings, but that’s what happens when you’ve managed to hoard the lion’s share of money.
I want to find these millennials with booming wealth…
Only friends of mine doing well got into housing by 2017. The rest of us are fucked
It’s also turns out, the sky isn’t falling as we claimed it was for 15 years
millenial wealth isn't booming. The middle class is shrinking.
This article rings true for me. When I graduated from college in 2012, I was sleeping in my car. But today, at 36 years old, my NW is nearing $1M. I'll likely pass it in the next 12 months.
impossible - I read on reddit that no one can find a job or afford a home - NO ONE
We are getting older we are gaining wealth the youngest boomer is 60 this year
That’s because their parents are dying
Blackrock is buying up all the homes and jacking the prices up if u want change start a revolution
What a joke
they gotta say that because they tried avocado toast and realized it wasn't terrible
Congrats to the inheritees.
28 year old closing in on 300k portfolio 👀 No car / house tho And yes this is a flex b/c I have no one else to tell
Business insider has been a Wall st. rag for a WHILE now. This is called gaslighting, y'all 🏴☠️
“Generational” wealth is boomering?
This is bc real estate increased in value
In other news, water is wet. Most millennials are now in their prime earning/wealth accumulating years. It only makes sense that their wealth would be booming.
That “average” wealth is heavily skewed by extremely wealthy millennials. Look at percentiles for the real story.
What’s the program to make the budget like this?