Your Millennial kid is more secure financially than you
Pity the poor "Millennials," people ages 18 to 29, who are sometimes maligned in the media as entitled slackers who still live with their parents, who are obsessed with social media and who aren't pulling their economic weight.
But the cultural perceptions apparently aren't living up to the reality, which shows that Millennials are much more savings-conscious than their parents. New studies report more than half of this group are saving at least 5 percent of their income, more than any other age group.
And according to the findings of a newly released survey of 1,000 U.S. adults commissioned by Bankrate.com, Millennials also lead other age groups when it comes to financial security.
According to the report, nearly one-third of employed Millennials say they have higher job security now than compared to a year ago. In contrast, 23 percent of Americans overall say they feel better about their job security over this time period.
And 30 percent of Millennials report their savings are better now than they were in April of 2014. That's twice as many as those in this group who feel less comfortable with what they're now saving. And it's well over the 20 percent of all Americans who are content with how much they've saved.
In fact, a third of Millennials say they're in a better overall financial situation now than they were 12 months ago. And while 16 percent of them say their finances have deteriorated, Millennials are still doing better than their parents: Only 19 percent of respondents 50 or older reported a better overall financial situation compared to a year earlier.
But the Bankrate survey also found Millennials are laggards when it comes to net worth. Only 18 percent of them say they have a higher net worth now than a year ago. Analysts say many Millennials watched as their parents were financially burned by the stock market and the housing market collapse at the start of the Great Recession and remain wary about investing in stocks and homes.
"While Millennials are doing pretty well financially," said Greg McBride, Bankrate's chief financial analyst, said in a press statement, their net worth is being held back because they aren't as invested as older adults in the stock and housing markets."