Fed Study Asks “Are Millennials The Lost Generation?”

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk,

I previously called millennials the “screwed” generation. A more polite Fed study uses the term “lost generation“.

A Fed study on the Demographics of Wealth explains How Education, Race, Birth Year Shaped Financial Outcomes.

The study covers the long last-lasting wealth impacts of the Great Recession on young families. The article’s first subtitle reads “Lost Generation?” but the charts show it’s more like “Lost Generation!”.

The study did not break down the results using names of generations. Here are the ones I used in anecdotes on the Fed research charts.

The above image clipped from New Guidelines Redefine Birth Years for Millennials, Gen-X, and ‘Post-Millennials’

These charts caught my eye, as related to millennials, from the Fed study.

Change in Median Income

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Wealth vs. Predicted Wealth

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Change in Wealth Levels

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Conclusion

The study concludes:

“It is far too soon to know whether families headed by someone born in the 1980s will become members of a lost generation for wealth accumulation.

To be sure, there are grounds for optimism. Yet there are reasons to be very concerned about the financial outlook for many young Americans.”

Odds are another recession is on the way. It will not be put off forever. Millennials who went deep into debt to buy a house will likely find themselves underwater.

The stock market is insanely overvalued.

What about education debt? Healthcare? Pensions?

Millennials who already overpay for healthcare will be under increasing pressure to pay more into the system as costs soar out of hand.

Millennials stand to get screwed on absurd pension promises made to their parents.

Inheritance

One potential saving grace is boomers will die and millennials will inherit their parents wealth. But that wealth most likely will have to be split among many siblings. And many boomers will die broke. Thus inheritance will be be very skewed. The median inheritance is likely to be a pittance.

Screwed Generation

On April 26, I commented Millennials, the Screwed Generation, Blame Boomers For Making Their Lives Worse.

There are plenty of reasons to think a major political upheaval is coming. If so, will the result be any good?