Stuck in the Starting Blocks

I know I can't be the only one who has heard the quote from a family member "well, when I was your age...." followed by a rousing tale as to how they already had a job, house, car, baby puppy, full retirement plan, and all the works by your age.

This scene I can bet has played out at every family party for any millennial since they reached college age.

We as a generation are constantly being compared to our parents generation by those same parents. Because of that I have heard the terms "lazy" and "entitled" attributed to my generation and I honestly wanted to examine what is going on with our generation.

Why are we so far behind our parents?

One of the perks of my professional position is the ability to observe and pick the minds of some of the most powerful policy makers when it comes to the financial industry. An opportunity presented itself for just that when a representative from the Federal Reserve, Ray Boshara, came to Louisville to speak to a luncheon gathering of financial education and empowerment workers and supporters a couple of years ago. His topic was the status of household financial stability and how it was recovering after the recent recession.

For myself, and those in the field in Louisville, this was a golden chance to hear the remarks of a high-level policy expert, but little did I know it would be one of the most sobering speeches I'd ever hear.

He stepped on stage, thanked the crowd for their warm reception, and scanned the room. His eyes locked on me, as I was the only one under 35 in the room easily, and began by saying "Well young man, I must say everyone may enjoy this talk except for you."

What preceded next was verbal torture over the financial and economic state of households, specifically those of young Americans under the age of 30. His work team had dug through decades worth of financial and demographical data to find these results:

When did they obtain their first full-time position making over $40,000 a year (adjusted for inflation)?
Parents= 25 (on average).
Generation Me= 30.

So on average we are starting 5 years later in a true career position, which means we lose at least 5 years worth of genuine, usable income.

When did they get married on average?
Parents= 26.
Generation Me= 29.

The data pointed that couples of this generation are waiting longer to get married, and a lot of it has to do with economic security: can they pay for a wedding? Can they afford to live on their own?

When did they make the first payment on a mortgage on property to own?
Parents= 26.
Generation Me= 30.

Again we are falling behind, this time in beginning the journey for one of the most important assets in life, a house.

When did they begin saving for retirement?
Parents= 27.
Generation Me= 31.

Well you can't start saving for retirement without a decent job right??

When were they retiring?
Parents= 71.
Generation Me= ?????

This very thoughtful and eloquent speaker looked right at me and delivered that bombshell. He and his team were under the belief, after looking at the data, that many in my generation may never retire. They will be working their whole life in the effort to make enough money to retire or to continue making up lost time trying to pay off other debts.

So there I am sitting there dumbfounded.

How is my generation THIS FAR BEHIND???

I am motivated and bust my ass. I went to school with a ton of fellow students who busted their ass! Heck, my graduate school class was filled with nothing but idealistic go-getters who were ready to conquer the world!.........wait, graduate school.......I was 23 when I graduated from there.

Half of my classmates didn't have employment set up, just like myself. I had to wait til I was 25 to find that first step on the career ladder, and many friends I know are still waiting. But why? Why could we all still be waiting to really begin our careers?

What is the common factor..........

Mr. Boshara woke me up from what had to be an entertaining sight for anyone nearby by announcing that the young adults of today are so far behind because they begin their adult life with much more debt than previous generations.

Most young adults are entering the professional world and the beginning of their adult lives with about $30,000 in debt already to their name.

The prime factor?

The necessity of higher education and the rising cost of it. Mr. Boshara outlined that the job market has changed remarkably from previous generations and that college degrees are no longer rarities in the employment market, but are basically the new high school diploma....they are required.

Just last year, the Wall Street Journal reported that the class of 2015 took the title as the most indebted graduating class ever from the class of 2014, with graduates averaging a little over $35,000 in student loan debt.

Almost 71% of bachelor’s degree recipients will graduate with a student loan, compared with less than half two decades ago and about 64% 10 years ago.Speaking of two decades ago, a graduate back then was only graduating with a little less than $10,000 in student debt on average.

But that data is only for two decades ago, how much of our parents generation had any student debt? Well that number is only 17%.

So we are graduating with more debt, so what? We have an education that most of our parents never had. That has to mean we are killing the job market right? We are so well trained and prepared to enter the workforce with these degrees in hand.

Well that is where the assumptions become just a tad bit incorrect.

Newsweek examined what the job market looks like for Millennials and Generation Me citizens. How are those generations holding up?

They make up about 40 percent of the unemployed in the U.S., says Anthony Carnevale, a director and research professor for Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce. As of May, the data show 13.8 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds are out of work, an improvement over 14.2 percent in January and over the same time last year, when it was 15.4 percent. The trend is encouraging, but the number is still way above the national jobless rate of 5.4 percent.

So not only are we being forced to delay an entry to the workforce in order to obtain an education, but when we do it is not an automatic entry into the job market either.

So there is the case to be presented to the jury. Are we worse off than our parents because we are lazy and entitled? Or does it have something to do with the fact that we are being asked to fulfill educational obligations that they were not, and also asked to take on a financial burden they were not asked to?

Personally I would go with the latter. Neither my mother nor father graduated from college, but both were able to find immediate work and gainful employment. Meanwhile, their son, an honors graduate from two universities with a Masters degree, took a year to find work and still makes below the national average.

I could let this go to the jury, but I think a decision has already been found here....