Generation Y and money

[vanillabean]

Lately I have read some alarming stuff about Generation Y, also known as the Millennials, born ~1980-1995.

Reminded of a recently posted article pointing out that money problems are much like food problems, I took notice when reading that "researchers found that younger generations between the ages of 20 and 39 living in rural America are more likely to be obese than their urban counterparts." Correlations and statistics don't always reflect an accurate portrayal of reality, but one study found that "For every 10 percent increase in investment and communication technology (ICT) as a share of gross capital formation, the obesity rate climbed an average of 1.4 percent."

Zooming in on Generation Y and credit and mortgage and retirement (see also here and the stock market) and all that sort of money stuff that we talk about in these forums, the following news articles came back to me. I don't know what's scarier, but here they are.

Who are the unbanked?
http://money.cnn.com/2012/09/14/pf/bank-account-states/index.html

Millennials use alternative financial services
http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/credit/story/2012-05-15/alternative-financial-services-underbank...

Half of Homeowners Under 40 Are Still Underwater
http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/23/half-of-homeowners-under-40-are-still-underwater/

Younger people expect inheritance that won't exist
http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/retirement/story/2012-09-09/inheritance-generation-z/57720470/1

Helping Gen Y Get a Handle on Credit Cards
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=86952&page=1#.UFd1TBjsWkK

'Self-centered' work ethic hinders young employees
http://www.usatoday.com/money/columnist/kay/story/2012/09/15/self-centered-work-ethic-hinders-young-...

Gen Y faces retirement as a go-it-alone affair
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/47063390/ns/today-money/t/gen-y-faces-retirement-go-it-alone-affair/#....

[webhopper]

I am a 31 year old gen Yer who has the savings and investments of a 40 yr old. Seriously I taught myself to do the opposite of my baby boomer parents because they were always spending more than they had. Its true that gen y feels more empowered than previous generations. The trick is to convert that empowerment into leadership and work ethic.