Should Millennials Stop Thinking They Will be Rich?

casimir (26)in #news • 7 years ago

A Delusional Generation?

According to a survey conducted by the television network Fusion, a total of 28% of millennials believe they will be millionaires despite the fact that 46% of them still live with their parents. This is a testament to how delusional our generation has become.

This delusion also presents itself the millennial dream of entrepreneurship. After all, how many millionaires do you know who have make their money from their day job? Millennials also fantasise about becoming entrepreneurs. A staggering 71% of millennials wanted to quit their day jobs and work for themselves. The stark reality is that less than 2% of millennials report to be self-employed or business owners.

Becoming a millionaire is considered by many as being rich and is probably also seen as achievable. What do you think your odds of being a millionaire are?

One in 5? One in 50? One in 100?
If you are pensioner, your odds of having $1 million in net wealth (your total assets minus your total debt) are 1 in 7. However, if you are under 40 your odds are 1 in 55.

Over recent decades, the wealth gap between the rich and the poor has been increasing.

Why Is this the case?

Young people, people under 40, have not been working for many years and have not had an opportunity to save as much. Middle aged people (40-61) have worked long enough to accumulate wealth. While old people (62+) typically use their wealth to finance their retirement years.

At the beginning of their lives, people tend to take on debt such as student loans, mortgages etc. As a result they have a negative net worth.

Ok, I can hear you say that it is obvious that young people that start out their lives in debt are worse off financially.

There’s more.

A New Trend

I propose that another reason for the widening gap in wealth between the poor is due to the financial decisions made by millennials. Millennials tend to spend money on designer clothes, partying, technology and they might also own a car. By contrast, older people tend to save money, have an emergency fund, pay debt and invest their money in order to generate more wealth.

If millennials spent their money less frivolously they too could have more wealth.

So what do you think? Should millennials stop thinking they will be rich?