<div>By Kelly Barry, USA TODAYTue Jan 24, 7:29 AM ET
The picture for young adults is bleak.
College loan debt is at an all-time high.
Rental rates are through the roof. Wages are stagnant. (Excerpt: Strapped)
Credit cards are getting maxed out left and right.
In short, this group is getting hit from all sides, and they're strapped - for cash, that is.
In Strapped: Why America's 20- and 30-Somethings Can't Get Ahead, Tamara Draut takes aim at the root causes of the money troubles that young adults face today.
Draut, director of the Economic Opportunity Program at Demos, a New York-based think tank, writes about those born between 1971 and 1987 and their jobs: bouncers (going from job to job); jugglers (working full time while in college); pajamas (working at home); and tempsters (working temp jobs).
Draut peppers her first book with tales of struggle, as well as bits of her personal challenges, and draws heavily from analytical research that suggests the crisis is not letting up.
"They will be the first generation who won't match the prosperity of their parents."
In addition to social and economic reasons, she says, "Government policies have conspired to alter dramatically the process of becoming an adult."
A college education, the initial marker of easing into "young adulthood," is an indicator of future success - both professionally and personally - but in ways you might not have considered.
A college degree "will determine the size of their paycheck, the safety of their neighborhood, the reliability of their car and ... the opportunities they will be able to provide for their own children." However, it is that education, increasingly required for even low-paying jobs, that is hard to finance and can take more than a decade to pay off.
While still in college, nearly half of working students already put in more than 25 hours a week to help make ends meet, Draut says.
Yet, with diplomas in hand, most college graduates start out with years of debt in front of them and confront:
• Intermittent periods of unemployment.
• Limited chances for corporate upward mobility.
• Stunted wage growth.
Thus, bouncers are born.
This group moves between jobs in pursuit of the elusive trifecta: decent pay, ample benefits and the chance to scale the corporate ladder.
One young worker described in the book "bounced" through five jobs in six years. She then did the once-unimaginable and moved back in with her mom to save money.
At 30, she has yet to make more than $35,000 a year in any job. As she states, "When times are down, that's when your car needs tires."
Adding to the stress: the difficulty in finding affordable housing. Further down the line, there is the added heavy financial burden of providing for a child.
Reading the many discouraging passages makes one yearn for answers, which don't come until the final pages. Just one thin chapter sums up how to push the pendulum toward economically prosperous days.
Among the suggestions:
• Banding together to back reforms for a better U.S. society - families come first, hard work is rewarded with decent wages, college is more affordable, and first-time home buyers get a break.
• Kicking credit card companies off college campuses, where many cash-strapped students develop bad financial habits due to the ease of obtaining cards.
• Having businesses and the government create a joint trust to fund universal child care and education.
The potential long-term effects of inaction are hard to overstate.
Everyone has a stake in the healthy finances of this generation: "The clock is ticking. In 2011, the 76 million baby boomers will start retiring," Draut writes.
Paying for the national debt, Medicare and Social Security will "result in a tax burden on today's young adults double that of our parents."
It is in everyone's self-interest, Draut says, that society be financially sound. That's good for young and old alike.</div>
USA Today Article: Young earners face intense financial challenge
by Amnesty Vendor 14 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Amnesty Vendor
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Legolas
Welcome to the board!
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serendipity
Hi Amnesty Vendor,
Welcome to the board! I have a 16 year old daughter and worry about her future. I feel that this young generation is going to have a hard time maintaining the standard of living that they were accumstomed to growing up.
I think there will be less stability in jobs, because of offshoring. Not only will the job situation be difficult, they will have to totally fund retirement on their own, because of a lack of pensions and social security. They may even have to foot the bill for their parents, if the parents didn't save enough for their retirement. It's rather bleak.
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purplesofa
Thanks for the info...........going to use it to get my way with something!
Welcome to the board.
purps
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Soledad
Wow that's a great article, and so true too.
I am definitely in that "cash strapped" group. I have had 5 jobs in the past 5 years. The companies I have worked for have either slashed jobs, filed bankruptcy or moved overseas. 1 was shut down by the FCC for repeated violations and criminal activity. These were, at one time, large and reputable companies that offered good benefits and very decent pay.
Today I see myself at my 6th job with another mid-sized company. I making $100 less per week now for the same type of work I did 5 years ago! Meanwhile rent, food and transportation has gone up considerably. I do have health insurance, the premiums are very high. I have a private retirement fund, and I plan to contribute to the 401k offered at my job when I become eligible. I am a non-exempt employee, however, my employer would rather give me days off than pay for the overtime. I don't know how in the world I will be able to make ends meet once the health insurance premiums start getting deducted from my check. Did I mention that I have a college degree and 2 post graduate certificates?
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DanTheMan
Young'ns:
Do you need a RAZR phone? A closet full of stylish clothes? A car that is under 5 years old? 180 channels of cable TV? High-speed internet and a megagigaterahertz computer? High-def TV & and a personal library of DVDs?
Dan, never-got-on-that-merry-go-round class
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Soledad
Dan I know that there are many peoples my age who can't live without the newest gizmo or whatever but there are also many that I personally know that don't care to live beyond their means either. Don't make such a sweeping generalization.
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DavidChristopher
that is why the seach for truth is the only adventure I can afford to go on. I cannot afford to explore the great pyramids, the rainforest, or even the grand canyon. So a few years ago, I started searching the scriptures, and started searching for truth. The last of the unknown terroritory. Lets see if the world is really flat shall we?
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Highlander
DanTheMan has ever right to talk about a generalization when it is generally true. Ofcourse there are exceptions, but who really cares about that. What he's saying is generally true.
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jstalin
This article is doom and gloom and full of anecdotal tripe. I'm of the generation the article talks about and I'm doing just fine. It's about choices. I decide not to max out my credit cards, I worked through college and graduated with no debt, and I own a house. All it takes is financial discipline. Heck, I even live in the state with the nation's worst economy.
I choose not to buy every kewl gizmo that catches my eye, I have a paid-off car, and I sock a bunch of money away into my 401K and IRA. I think our generation has the chance of doing FAR better than our parents, and sooner. I think one thing lacking, though, is financial education.