New Data Contradicts Doom Narrative About Millennials’ Finances
Bubba
21 Oct
The numbers: The latest Survey of Consumer Finances data shows millennials have a higher median net worth than their Boomer and Gen X counterparts at the same age. (WaPo)
Chart: The Washington Post
Context: There’s a heavy generational dimension to the debate over U.S income inequality, with people like NYU professor Scott Galloway claiming, America is “destroying” young people’s economic futures.
Galloway during an MSNBC appearance in April:
Young people are enraged. … They look up, they see wealth, exceptional wealth across my generation and people in certain industries, and they are really struggling. Their purchasing power is going down and the incumbents create artificial scarcity on campus.
Bubba’s Two Cents
The Survey of Consumer Finances is just one data point. Some statistics back up the case that younger Americans are actually doing better than their parents. Other research tells a different story:
I think the takeaway here is that this is a complex issue that resists broad narratives like Galloway’s “the boomers raided the country and left nothing to their kids,” or the grouchy old guy who wonders why all the young people don’t just “lift themselves up by their boot straps” and get a job.