Gen Y Needs Some Financial Literacy
August 18, 2009 by Miranda Marquit
Filed under Finance
I’ve sort of identified myself with Gen X, but apparently, I’m part of Gen Y, according to MarketWatch, which says that those of us born between 1977 and 1979 are part of Gen Y. And, apparently I’m fortunate to be reasonably financially literate. According to the National Foundation for Credit Counseling 47% of Gen Y has below average financial literacy. On top of that, the survey also found that 45% of Gen Y adults don’t have any savings.
Which means things could get dicey in the coming years.
Clearly, it is time for the people of my generation to educate themselves about finances. They need to be aware that Social Security is not going to be around forever, and that we will need to rely on ourselves. Additionally, we need to realize that things have been pretty good. Most of us have more at an earlier age than our parents did.
And we certainly consume more. We also don’t have the same concern about debt. Indeed, many of us expect that debt is normal. I know that I didn’t hesitate to take advantage of student loans (even though I didn’t strictly need what I took), nor did I cavil at getting a couple of credit cards and proceeding to max them out. But I turned things around. I even have a retirement account now. I’m far from perfect in my finances, but I’m making progress.
It is time for everyone to take a step back and really consider our choices. After all, true freedom comes from making good choices that lead to financial sufficiency.
Image source: debaird via Flickr
Financial education should never stop for anyone. It is one of the most critical things in being successful at life, but always seems to get neglected.
One thing I have noticed about kids and young adults is they want to have everything now, and tend to be very consumption/debt oriented without any thought to the future. Life has been very good to most of them so far, but they seem to expect/demand that someone (relatives/government) will always be there to protect/provide for them if they screw up. They have a rude awakening coming, and may be the first generation whose standard of living falls short of their parents (the reverse of the American Dream).