Member-only story
Millennials Just Became the Poorest Generation in History
Why, as a Gen Z kid, this terrifies me.
Born anywhere between 1981–1996, Millennials are the generation squeezed between Gen X and Gen Z. If you’re anywhere between 25 and 40 years old this probably concerns you.
According to the most recent data from the Federal Reserve, Millennials currently own around 5.1% of all the wealth in America. Since 2016, Millennials have been the largest generation in the workforce. They currently make up approximately 35% of the entire working population.
Unfortunately, this may actually just be the result of far more worrisome trends in the job market and education system.
The easy explanation for this would be to say that Millennials are still too early on in their careers and haven’t had enough time for their investments to grow. They haven’t hit their peak earning years and have not been invested in the market enough for compound interest to really take place. This is all true but back in 1989 when the Baby Boomers were around the same age as millennials are today, they were responsible for 21% of all US wealth at the time. Now there may be…
