younger Generations today have about 86% less buying power than Baby Boomers did in their 20s all thanks to skyrocketing prices on houses cars and education Millennials and gen Z get a lot of flak for supposedly blowing their cash on things like avocado toast but is that really the issue or are they just dealing with a much tougher economy see for yourself back in 2022 when the average Millennial hit 3 three the typical us home cost $433,000 while the average household income was only $77,000 at that income it would take 6. 1 years of total earnings to buy a house outright which sounds not very realistic it's worse in the UK where housing costs have been over nine times the average income for the past decade baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964 lived in a Time when life was much more affordable in 1988 when the average Boomer turned 33 the median home price was $110,000 while the median income was $27,000 that's a homeo income ratio of 4 years far more manageable some Boomers could even pay off their homes in just a year or two so why is this happening unsurprisingly while inflation has steadily increased home prices have grown even faster for example a $100,000 home in 1990 would cost $377,000 today far outpacing the cost of other goods and services Plus in the 1970s and 1980s the US population was smaller and there was less demand for housing Boomers married earlier combining incomes to buy homes at the same time many Millennials and genz stay sing go longer and live with their parents to save money College tuition has more than doubled since the 1990s and student loan debt has reached a mindboggling $1. 7 trillion the average loan balance at graduation has tripled to $30,000 no wonder young people have to postpone some serious life decisions like buying a home or starting a family and even with more people getting college degrees wages haven't kept up with the rising cost of living starting salaries for graduates often hover around $50,000 to $60,000 that's barely enough to cover student loans rent and other expenses that's not all car payments have hit record highs the average payment is $716 per month and loan terms stretch up to 69 months High interest rates make things even worse leaving many young people drowning in autol loan and credit card debt a lot of people judge how well they're doing in life by looking at their parents if your parents had a solid financial situation chances are you might too and for a long time the goal for most families was simple do better than the generation before but that's getting harder and harder back in the 1940s about 90% of people ended up making more money than their parents fast forward to those born in 1980 and that number has dropped to just 50% in other words half of people today aren't out earning their parents and that's a big shift from previous generations so it's not surprising that many people don't feel like they're financially ahead a CNBC survey found that only 36.
5% of adults say they're doing better than their parents an even larger chunk 42. 8% say they're worse off the remaining 20.
