Millennials are in their peak years for financial uncertainty, and some are so intensely worried about their money it’s making them depressed and keeping them up at night.
That’s according to Northwestern Mutual’s 2023 Planning & Progress Study, which finds that financial uncertainty is “elevated for Gen Z, peaks for millennials, begins to recede for Gen X, and sits at its lowest levels for boomers.” While 36% of Americans say their anxiety keeps them up at night at least once a month, the share reaches 44% for Gen Z and 53% for millennials.
And 54% of millennials say financial anxiety is making them depressed, compared with 47% of Gen Z and just 20% of boomers.
There are any number of reasons millennials might feel this way, from carrying historically high debt loads to already weathering two recessions to grappling with the effects of climate change. But at least according to Northwestern Mutual, the feelings are fairly normal, and follow the natural “arc of anxiety.”
“When we think about the trajectory of our lives, there are a lot of unknowns when people are getting started in their careers,” Tim Gerend, chief distribution officer at Northwestern Mutual, said in a statement. A person’s thirties and forties—the current decades most millennials find themselves in—are filled with financial milestone after financial milestone, from buying homes to planning for children. “Later in life, when things start to feel more settled, people are likely to feel more secure in their financial situation.”
That said, the current moment does present unique challenges, including the uncertainty of the post-COVID world and inflation and its effects on key expenses like housing. Other recent reports have found young people expressing increasing levels of anxiety and stress about their financial situations relative to past years.
“The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic rocked the economy as Gen Z entered young adulthood,” Charlie Pastor, a financial planner,previously toldFortune. “Older generations should understand that the next generation of savers has seen a lot of economic turbulence in a short period of time.”
While higher prices affect every generation, younger people have had less time to build up savings and follow a financial plan that could lend security. Millennials have built up less wealth than their predecessors at the same age owing to many coming of age during the Great Recession and then being disproportionately impacted by COVID-19–related job loss (that said, they are catching up). While they are more educated than older generations, they have also taken on more debt, pushing back financial milestones like buying a home (despite all the attention on student loan debt in recent years, the trend is getting worse: Gen Z is more likely than even millennials to have student loans).
Even relatively high-earning millennials report struggling. The percentage of workers who do not feel confident they will be able to retire with the lifestyle they want has more than doubled since 2021, according to BlackRock’s2023Read on Retirementreport, with young workers reporting the least confidence.
“Millennials, and now Gen Z, have grown up amidst global and financial turmoil,” Suzanne Schmitt, head of financial wellness at New York Life, previously toldFortune. “These two cohorts have witnessed economic changes in their formative years and may be more risk-averse when it comes to financial habits than their predecessors.”
Financial anxiety can have real negative impacts on a person’s overall well-being, including their mental and even physical health. To cope, experts recommend acknowledging your emotions via therapy, journaling, or talking to a nonjudgmental friend about the situation, and being realistic with your budget, among other steps.
That said, it’s possible continuing to grow in their careers and events like the Great Wealth Transfer could help millennials and Gen Z sleep a little better at night. Another silver lining: Many reports find that younger generations started saving and investing earlier than older generations. That should help them build a substantial safety net over time.
“For now, it is important that members of Gen Z stay diligent and focus on the long term when saving and investing,” Pastor said.
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