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Generation X = Generation Debt?
By JLP | December 12, 2005
Here’s an interesting and sad article on MSN Money about Generation X and debt. It must be very disappointing to start out life with so much debt. I think that is why it is so important for kids to get a firm grasp on personal finance BEFORE they go off to college.
Topics: Financial Planning, Generation X | 3 Comments »
December 12th, 2005 at 4:18 pm
This is true, and I also think they need to be educated in what money actually is.
I still can’t understand why kids run up so much CC debt? When I was a kid (the fact that I used that means I’m getting old), I spent money carefully, and if I didn’t have money to do something, that was that. Mom and Dad would help out with some things, and I still ate too many pizzas in college (still working them off even at 41), but if I didn’t have the cash, I ate frozen vegetables and ramen noodles. I didn’t have a car until my senior year, which helped the finances enormously…
Not living large meant I missed many day ski trips and beer busts, but I got my student loans paid off by my third year out of school.
December 13th, 2005 at 5:10 pm
I think there are a lot of reasons for Gen X’ers in debt. Some of it is a sense of entitlement, perhaps, but children learn from their parents and others in their lives. If the parents or friend’s parents spend lavishly and rack up debt, then that’s what the kids see and learn.
Easy availability of credit cards, relentless advertizing, TV shows that promote a lavish and unrealistically materialistic lifestyle are part of the problem. Just listen to the radio for a while. The ads are all about getting a car or a mortgage with no money down, no credit/bad credit not a problem. Everywhere kids (and adults) go the message is that there is money out there for them, they just have to go for it.
Some of the problem is the outrageous cost of a college education these days. I have two daughters in college, and if it isn’t the cost of tuition then it is the cost of books. So far, I have been able to fund it with no loans, but I don’t know for how much longer.
December 13th, 2005 at 11:36 pm
I think you are missing the point of the article altogether. The problem is the fact that education is getting so
expensive that for most students, government grants, family contibutions, part time jobs, and even student loans is not enough
money for students to cover everything they need. Students are left with whatever tools they have to get by, in this case
instead of giving up and droping out they are using credit cards. Even living one step above poverty is extremely expensive
once all the costs of going to School are factored in. It’s a nice thought to think that every person who is in a bad place
is solely responsible for their condition, unfortunately that is not the case.