This morning, I read an article in my local
newspaper entitled,
Adulthood, Sponsored
Today by Mom, Dad, and I have to say that this article confirmed my
observations of the “Millennial” generation (people ages 18 to 29) and
increased my anxieties about this generation’s ability to understand and
implement good financial practices—either at home or in the workplace.
The article describes a situation where more and
more parents are subsidizing their children into their 20s and even later.
These are grown children who are off to work and on their own, but still
getting financial help from home.
Research confirms this article’s anecdotal observations. The University of Michigan indicates that 56
percent of young adults are living a life of quasi-independence. They have jobs
and their own homes but they still get help from their parents when the bills
come in. The Pew Research Center, which
studies social trends, has been looking at the Millennials and comparing them
to previous generations at a similar age. They have found that these young
adults are the most educated ever, meaning they are students longer. They are also less likely to have full-time
jobs than the Generation X or Baby Boom generations did at a similar age. They are marrying later and having children
older. They are not buying homes as
quickly as their parents or grandparents did.
D'Vera Cohn, a researcher with Pew, summarizes the results of Pew’s work
on this topic in the following statement: "The launching process is lasting longer than it used to. It's a prolonged adolescence or partial
adulthood." The Times in
London has started calling people in this stage "kidults."
My concern is that this generation’s inability to
balance their personal income and expenses transcends into the workplace. They aren’t financially responsible, much
less financially astute or sophisticated, so how can we expect them to handle
business finances? If they haven’t
learned the basics of personal finance, how can we expect them to learn the
nuances of corporate finance? If their
own parents have not taught them the value of planning and budgeting, and even
more importantly, the necessity of living within their means, how can we expect
them to value these disciplines in the workplace? As a finance professional who spends a
significant amount of time in the learning and development arena, I am troubled
by the implication these trends have for “learning finance,” and even more so
for “doing finance,” in the business environment.
I’m
interested to know what you are seeing and experiencing, and whether you share
my concerns. As always, you can post your comments
to this blog or send an email to me at my personal email address: pae@tmiwebmail.com.
Until next time,
Trish
