Millennials want to save, many can't
Millennials are stuck between having a financially responsible mindset and having the resources and discipline to pull off long-term results, finds a USA TODAY/Bank of America Better Money Habits poll of Millennials.
The survey of 1,001 people ages 18-34 reveals a disconnect between the way Millennials think about their finances and what they're actually able to achieve. They say they have good financial habits, though the majority still worry about their financial situations. They think they'll be at least as well off, if not more, than their parents — yet more than a third still receive financial support from family. They say they're good at living within their means, but many are living paycheck to paycheck. And while this age group has prioritized reducing debt, many are unable to put away emergency savings simultaneously.
While the job market is slowly improving, wages have remained relatively stagnant, and Millennials still have several significant financial burdens to contend with, including rising student loan debt and rising rent prices. Class of 2013 grads have an average debt load of $28,400, according to The Project on Student Debt. Then there's the unnecessary expenses Millennials have deemed necessary, like traveling and eating out at nice restaurants.
When asked what represents having financially "made it," 70% of Millennials said that being able to afford anything, like travel and treating friends and family to things, was their definition of success; 40% said it was having a career that does good for others; while just 24% said it was rising to the top of their profession; and 15% said it was making a lot more money than their parents made.
"You see a lot of this values-based decision making in terms of career and where they want to work and meaning in their life," says Andrew Plepler, head of global corporate social responsibility at Bank of America. "And that means that they're making decisions not just based on finances."
Erin Lowry, a 25-year-old financial blogger behind brokemillennial.com, says most of her discretionary income goes toward experiences like seeing plays or traveling. "I tend to just want to spend money on being around people and going out," she says.
But Lowry knows she's financially ahead of many of her peers: She graduated college without any debt and is able to put significantly more money toward savings and investments in addition to having more leeway with her daily spending. Though she says she still has to make trade-offs: opting to cook at home most nights and bringing her lunch to work instead of buying.
For some Millennials, prioritizing meaningful experiences is likely taking away money that otherwise could go to retirement savings or a down payment for a house, says Chantel Bonneau, a wealth management adviser with Northwestern Mutual and a Millennial herself.
"A lot of Millennials are very dramatically making that a significant category of their income," she says. "We're seeing that directly come from savings."
While 69% of Millennials have savings accounts, most have less than $5,000, and 41% are stressed about putting enough money away, the survey shows. Older Millennials (ages 26-34) are much more worried about saving than those 18-25, who are more worried about their career paths. Just 36% overall say they are good or excellent at saving, while a fifth haven't started saving at all.
Meanwhile many Millennials still receive financial help from their parents or relatives, regardless of whether they're living at home. More than a third say they regularly receive help on expenses, including groceries and cellphone bills. While just 20% of 26- to 34-year-olds say they regularly get financial help from family, compared with 52% of 18- to 25-year-olds, 69% of 26- to 34-year-olds say they have a lot of friends who are getting financial help from their parents.
The data also show Millennials are much more focused on short-term goals. While that may in part be due to seeking out instant gratification, it's also reflective of lifestyle circumstances, says Tom White, CEO of virtual financial advising service iQuantifi. His company is specifically aimed at 28- to 35-year-olds. IQuantifi is built around financial goal-setting, but reaching Millennials required developing software around goals like working toward being able to move out of their parents' house or being able to relocate for a job, White says.
"They have so many things in the short-term that they're trying to juggle," he says.
A narrow financial mindset also likely comes from Millennials' lack of leftover income to invest or save. While they may want to achieve financial stability, save for retirement and build an emergency fund, many may not have the means to do so, say Mark Sievewright and Matt Wilcox, executives with financial technology company Fiserv.
"A lot of these Millennials are focused on just getting by," says Sievewright, president of credit union solutions at Fiserv. "They're focused on now."
USA TODAY partnered with Bank of America to explore the financial attitudes, challenges and habits of millennials. The USA TODAY/ Bank of America Better Money Habits poll of Millennials included 1,001 interviews of millennials between the ages of 18 and 34, between Oct. 9-20, 2014.