Younger generations lag parents in wealth-building

[davidn3600]

WASHINGTON — Pearl Brady has a stable job with good benefits and holds two degrees, a bachelor’s and a master’s. But despite her best efforts, she has no savings, and worries that it will be years before she manages to start putting away money for a house, children and eventually retirement.

“I’m in that extremely nervous category,” said Ms. Brady, 28, a Brooklynite who works for a union. “I know how much money I’m going to be making for the near term. I hope in my 30s and 40s to be able to save, but I have no idea how. It’s scary.”

Ms. Brady has plenty of company. A new study from the Urban Institute finds that Ms. Brady and her peers up to roughly age 40 have accrued less wealth than their parents did at the same age, even as the average wealth of Americans has doubled over the last quarter-century.

Because wealth compounds over long periods of time — a dollar saved 10 years ago is worth much more than a dollar saved today — young adults probably face less secure futures for decades down the road, and even shakier retirements.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/younger-generations-lag-parents-wealth-010609593.html


But that's OK...we just have to cut the taxes further for the 1% so the wealth will start trickling down.

[hobbit709]

1. Our parents were able to maintain their standard of living with ONE income.

Now it takes two just to break even.

And that's not even counting the massive debt one occurs to get a degree now.

[madville]

2. Yeah I remember those days

No cell phones, computers, Internet service, cable/satellite TV, we had one television in the house, one car, never ate out.

There was less stuff to spend money on, health care was still kind of affordable.

I'm almost 40 now and just getting in a position where I can start saving for retirement and have gotten almost debt free except for a house where I used to live that I currently have a tenant in.

I'm getting more minimalist as well, been slowly selling/giving away the crap we tend to accumulate. I'm trying to go back as simple and cheap as possible, getting there slowly.