Posted By The Wall Street Journal reports in Young Face a Savings Deficit that the under-35 generation (millennials) have stopped saving, so much so they have a negative savings rate: minus 2%. Moody’s Analytics says those aged 35 to 44 have a positive savings rate of 3%, while the 45-to-54 cohort have a 6% savings rate. The older you are, the higher the savings rate: it’s 13% for those 55 or over, which seems to be in the realm of being adequate enough to establish a modicum of financial independence ( as we say here at FinancialIndependenceHub.com, “while you’re still young enough to enjoy it.”)
In the linked subscriber-only piece (sorry!), the WSJ says the personal finances of millennials have become “increasingly precarious despite five years of economic growth and job creation.”
Back in 2009, the savings rate reached 5.2% for those under 35, the WSJ says, briefly surpassing the savings rate of those 35 to 44. But today the median millennial has a net worth of US$10,400, down from US$18,200 for Generation X.
Student loans are also problematic: the median student debt for borrowers under 35 has risen to US$17,200 from US$6,100 in 1995.
