Millennials’ Failure to Launch
“The kids are back,” and they aren’t moving out, said Gail MarksJarvis in the Chicago Tribune. More Millennials are living with their parents now than during the depths of the Great Recession, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center. The percentage of young adults ages 18 to 34 living at home has increased from 24 percent in 2010 to 26 percent today, even though the group’s unemployment rate has fallen from 2.4 percent to 7.7 percent during the same time period. More young people have jobs, but their “crushing” load of student debt is tethering them to home, said Catey Hill in MarketWatch.com. Some 56 percent of Millennials say they’ve delayed at least one major life event because of their debt. At the top of that list? “Buying a home.”
“We need to rethink the conventional wisdom that young adults must be shoved out on their own,” said Michelle Singletary in The Washington Post. With more people lasting into their 80s, 90s, and beyond, “Millennials will have decades of independent living.” By staying at home for a few years after college, new grads can make “tremendous headway in paying off loans early,” and even save money for an eventual down payment. “Certainly we want our young adults to be financially independent,” but they need time and space in this economy to accomplish.
This is what young people did for generations, said Stephen Mihm in Bloomberg View.com. “For most of the nation’s history, multigenerational living arrangements were the norm, not the exception.” It didn’t matter if you were wealthy or poor, urban or rural; if your parents were still alive, chances were you lived with them, even after you could stand on your own financial feet. It wasn’t until the mid-20th century that the nuclear-family living arrangement became typical.
What these kids are saving in income, they’re losing in personal growth, said Philip Wegmann in TheFederalist.com. I’m a Millennial, and paying for a shabby apartment is my daily reminder that I’m a grown-up now. My advice for my contemporaries is this: Scour Craigslist, sublease, find roommates, or couch-surf. “Do whatever it takes, because to make it in America, you have to make it out of your mom’s house first.” If you do need to be at home, try at least to start building good financial habits, said Katy Osborn in Time.com. Write down a “pretend budget,” listing what you might need to spend on rent, groceries, and other basics. Then use that money to lower your debt and build a savings safety net. And once you can afford it, have a serious conversation with your folks about “how they’d like you to pitch in” with a household contribution.
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