Millennials and Money: The State of Their Financial Management and How Workplaces Can Help Them
The financial decisions of millennials—defined as individuals age 18 to 37 in 2018—will likely affect the U.S. economy for the next 30 years.
Millennials are the largest, most highly educated, and most diverse generation in U.S. history. They also make up the largest share of the nation’s work force. To gauge the financial status and capabilities of this important segment of the economy, this paper examines millennials’ financial situation, behaviors and knowledge, including comparisons to other demographic groups. The findings point to a generation struggling with financial fragility and high levels of anxiety over their personal finances.
The authors’ conclusions are based on an analysis of data from the 2018 National Financial Capability Study (NFCS). As part of their research, they compared millennials to older working-age adults age 38-64. They also compared millennials to young adults in the same age range (18-37) in 2009, 2012 and 2015 using data from previous waves of the NFCS.