Millennials own less than 5% of all U.S. wealth

[demmiblue]

Despite making up the largest portion of the workforce, millennials controlled just 4.6% of U.S. wealth through the first half of 2020, according to data from the Federal Reserve.

Baby boomers control over 53% of the country's wealth, while Gen X accounts for just over 25% and the silent generation holds around 17%, according to the Fed's data, which breaks down U.S. wealth in the beginning of 2020 by age, class and race.

While it's not abnormal for older generations to be wealthier than younger generations — they have had longer to earn money and accumulate assets, after all — the Fed's data also shows that millennials have far less wealth than boomers did at the same age.

In 1989, when baby boomers were around the same age as millennials are today, they controlled 21% of the nation's wealth. That's almost five times as much as what millennials own today.

Many previous reports have found that millennials are, on average, worse off financially than their parents and grandparents were at the same age, despite being better educated.

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/09/millennials-own-less-than-5percent-of-all-us-wealth.html

[intrepidity]

1. Bet those numbers change after the pandemic death toll

those inheritances have to go somewhere

[Mariana]

8. A lot of those inheritances

are going to be gobbled up by the medical bills, when there's even an inheritance to begin with - Covid-19 disproportionately kills poor people.

[former9thward]

27. Bet you are wrong.

First, 320,000 deaths are only a small increase in the normal U.S. death toll per year. 2nd about 40% of deaths are people in nursing homes and long term care. These facilities soak up all the wealth of those who enter. 3rd the disease has disproportionally affected minorities who have disproportionally less wealth.

[Stallion]

2. I'm Sure It Will All Trickle Down from Recently Deceased Gran Paw and MeMaw

[Midnight Writer]

3. The American Dream has been killed by runaway capitalism.

[brooklynite]

4. Wealth is based on both earning and investment over time...

I wouldn't expect people just starting out in the workforce to have a lot of assets.

[aidbo]

6. Millennials are approaching 40 and make up the largest portion of the current workforce.

[demmiblue]

11. Just a couple of observations:

1) Some people don't read the articles posted, and

2) Some people constantly mistake Millennials with Zoomers.

*Optional: 3) Some people live in a bubble.

[JanMichael]

19. looks like option #3. or #2? nt

[former9thward]

28. Most people don't begin gaining a lot of wealth until after 40.

Start to get a lot of equity in a house or pay it off. Kids are grown and out of the house. Moving up at work to higher pay jobs. People with 401ks start to really gain assets., etc.

[aidbo]

30. from the article cited in the OP:

In 1989, when baby boomers were around the same age as millennials are today, they controlled 21% of the nation's wealth. That's almost five times as much as what millennials own today.

And most of those trillions in student debt will put a big dent in any wealth that millennials are supposed to be socking away. Also, in regards to equity in their homes: lol, what homes?

[hatrack]

7. At the bottom of the chart, the Fed designates Millennials as starting in 1981

https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/dataviz/dfa/distribute/table/#quarter:119;series:Net%20worth;demographic:generation;population:all;units:levels

Might just be me, but I wouldn't characterize people from those in their mid-twenties to those pushing 40 as "just starting out in the workforce".

[Mariana]

9. In excerpt in the OP, it says:

In 1989, when baby boomers were around the same age as millennials are today, they controlled 21% of the nation's wealth. That's almost five times as much as what millennials own today.

How do you explain this disparity?

[Fiendish Thingy]

17. The disparity is due to 40+ years of neoliberal economics, expanding the wealth gap

With the partial exception of Obama, who had the GFC to deal with, and Trump, who didn’t know what the fuck he was doing, every administration and congress since the 70’s has worked to grow the wealth gap and income inequality. Creating 401k’s as a poison pill to kill off defined benefit pensions, suppressing the minimum wage far below the rate of inflation, and of course, massive tax cuts for the rich.

It’s just that simple.

[MichMan]

18. How many millennials have worked long enough with one employer to be collecting a pension?

[Maven]

25. What is the incentive to stay with an employer long-term

When you don't get long-term benefits?

And when employers are constantly "reorganizing" their workforce?

[Fiendish Thingy]

26. That's just the point- few employers even offer pensions, not to mention full time positions

With benefits.

[Bettie]

32. LMAO! Seriously?

Almost no employer even OFFERS a pension anymore.

There are 401Ks and maybe, if the stars are aligned, a small company match. Of course, that assumes that you have enough income to actually be able to pay your bills, health insurance, AND put money away every paycheck. Oh, it also assumes you actually work FOR the company (not a contractor) and are full time.

In other words, employers don't offer actual benefits to most employees anymore, because they have found ways around that.

Also, companies generally like to see job hopping, they say it shows initiative. Long-term employment is a red flag, at least that's what they told my husband when he was downsized and looking for new jobs.

Oh, jobs that had the same descriptions as he had been downsized from (company purchased, duplicate departments, they only kept one), required two degrees and paid about 10-15k less than they had ten years before.

Wherever you work, it must be pretty sweet, but most people don't get that deal, not anymore.

[JanMichael]

20. Sadly that's just a tiny bit less than X'ers now at 25%. We should be much higher.

X'ers - the original (post WWII) screwed "young adults". That work its way through the years by the way.

[Mariana]

23. I'm an X'er too and I know exactly what you mean. nt.

[Bettie]

29. I am also an X-er

We were the first generation to overall do worse than our parents.

Millennials are getting screwed even harder.

[Codeine]

22. People in their late 30s

aren’t “just starting out in the workforce.“

[Maven]

24. Elder millennials are now almost 40.

They aren't just starting out in the workplace.

[aidbo]

5. Unfortunately, President Elect Biden has said he has no empathy for them.

I hope he changes his mind.
https://www.newsweek.com/joe-biden-says-millennials-dont-have-it-tough-780348

Link to tweet

[OKNancy]

10. Said in 2018

From the article:

"The younger generation now tells me how tough things are—give me a break," said Biden, while speaking to Patt Morrison of the Los Angeles Times to promote his new book. "No, no, I have no empathy for it, give me a break."

Biden compared the complaints of millennials to what he experienced growing up in the 1960s and '70s, mentioning the civil rights and women's liberation movements that were gaining traction simultaneously with the Vietnam War, making the United States a troubling place for young activists at the time.

[meadowlander]

12. That's just ignorant and out of touch. He needs to wake up and smell the intergenerational inequity.

&t=1s

[WinkelTripel]

13. Millennial here checking in

There's a context here that your very short clip failed to capture, as OKNancy noted. I do hope you have a moment to check out what our incredibly empathic President Elect was actually saying: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/joe-biden-no-empathy/

I've been reading DU for a long time but felt I finally needed to join in here.

[uppityperson]

14. Thank you

[Wicked Blue]

15. Student Loans nt

[smirkymonkey]

31. Yep, that's one part of it.

A large part of it.

[Fiendish Thingy]

16. Which is one of the reasons why the electorate will shift to the left in the coming decades. Nt

[Codeine]

21. Boomers have that shit in a deathgrip. nt

[pecosbob]

33. I'm sixty and I can testify that wages have been flat in semi-skilled jobs for forty years

Last edited Tue Dec 22, 2020, 09:15 PM - Edit history (1)

Corporations are loathe to give away a dollar they don't have to, and since their lawyers write virtually all labor law they don't have to do so. The rich write laws that enable them to remain rich. Without collective bargaining we are powerless. If we wanted to lay blame it might more accurately be dropped in the laps of the Greatest Generation. They were the ones that unleashed the modern corporation upon us all. The City of London and the Federal Reserve were already creating fiat money while the Boomers were still in onesies.