While Millennials are looking more like previous cohorts in terms of labor-market experience, marriage, and homeownership, they continue to lag in preparing for retirement, according to new research from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.
The median ratio of net wealth to income for Millennials is significantly behind that for earlier cohorts, even for households in their late 30s. The reason for this wealth gap is student loans.
Forty percent of Millennial households ages 28-38 are burdened by student debt and, among these households, the outstanding loan balance amounts to more than 40 percent of income.
This slower wealth buildup is of particular concern as Millennials will need more than prior cohorts due to longer lifespans and less support from Social Security. Read the full report.
