Reducing Personal Debt

Reducing Personal Debt – How Do Millennials Feel About It?
Without a doubt, reducing personal debt has become one of the greatest concerns of the millennial generation. Almost half of the age group surveyed, that were between the ages 22 and 33, stated that they were feeling overwhelmed because of their debt load.
As a matter of fact, when compared to the age group of 49 to 59, twice as many millennials complained of this. However, to their credit, almost half of the younger generation was allocating close to half of their take home wages to reducing personal debt.
It’s not difficult to determine the type of debt that is causing these worries. As recent and fairly recent college graduates, student loans are very high. To make the problem even worse, the economy is still in a slowly improving process.
Many of the millennial generation are unable to find a job in their degree career field, and often take lower paying jobs to meet expenses, and reducing personal debt can be difficult. Once again, however, this group doesn’t allow these concerns to diminish their bright outlook for the future. A great majority are confident that their standard of living will be better than the one enjoyed by their parents.
[bctt tweet=”Reducing & eliminating personal debt is crucial when planning for retirement. We offer some tips here…” username=”HBSMoneyTips”]
How about saving for retirement? The younger generation believes one of their priorities should be adequate saving for their retirement years, in addition to reducing personal debt quickly as possible. There is a slight difference, however, between the men and women. Of the group surveyed, half of the women say that they are saving for retirement and about 10% more of the men say that they are. The women though aren’t able to save as much as the men.
Some of the reasons given for this are that they don’t earn as much as the men, however, this reason has been questioned. It’s been suggested that it may be due to some degree of a lack of financial literacy or not being a risk taker with their investments. We also don’t hear much about credit card debt relief from this generation. What do you think?
Another good sign with this generation is that they are saving and putting away money for that rainy day. If this past recession had a silver lining, and there are very few, it would be that a majority of the millennial generation understand that saving is an absolute requisite. They feel that they must save to be able to weather the tough times that may come their way and use a do it yourself debt reduction.
Reducing personal debt is important to millennials
Reducing personal debt also helps because when those tough times arrive, less cash is needed for debt service. Some still say that because millennial women earn less than their male counterparts, are saving less, and as a result feel less contentment at the beginning of their working careers. Do you think they are reducing personal debt the correct way? Let me know your thoughts on the best way to reduce debt by commenting below.
That may or may not be the reason. One concern the majority of the younger generation agree on is that each one of them must take responsibility for their situation. With the average student loan in the area of 30,000.00, they stated that this should be paid by the student, and not be running back to the parents for help reducing personal debt. They believe that this can be construed as tough love and will benefit them in their future lives. I agree. What do you think? Take a few minutes and comment below.
- Myths of Social Security - November 22, 2023
- How Do You Make a Budget – Budgeting Made Easy - November 15, 2023
- Should You Buy Now or Wait? What Higher 2023 Mortgage Rates Mean for Homebuyers - November 8, 2023