Millennial's growing poorer

Real Estate Agent · Sisters, OR · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes

Listening to people beat up on the young folks for having their student loans paid off. Look at this people born between 81 and 96 are getting poorer while the rest of us are getting richer. What this is really saying is people who own assets like real estate are getting wealthier and people with no assets are finding less and less opportunity. I imagine any group whether it be blacks, hispanic, whatever that had a disproportionately lower share of assets is getting disproportionatley poorer. Yes, buy real estate and cash-flowing assets, but next time you are complaining about a kid having their stupid transgender studies loan paid off be considerate of the fact this kid does not have the opportunities of the generations before him. And as mighty and righteous as you are maybe don't lecture these millennials quite as much about how hard you had it and all the jobs you had when you were 12 years old, they didn't invent helicopter parenting they are the victims of it.

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Scott TrenchPro Member

Rental Property Investor · Denver, CO · Member since 2014 · 2k+ posts · 6k+ votes

I believe that this data is about 8 years out of date. Millennial wealth has been skyrocketing, especially in the last few years. And, I believe Millennials are in great position to benefit from the economic realities that are ahead of us (in a relative sense).

Millennials are benefitting disproportionately from the great resignation. Millenial's net worth has doubled since the start of the pandemic.

Lower asset values mean that higher millennial paychecks buy a greater share of GDP per capita.

Fed policy of easy money ballooned asset values for the older generations over the past 10 years. That's coming to an end and was the real insidious evil that kept millennials down and ballooned inequality. Jerome Powell will inflict pain on everyone, but millennials will be hurt the least as they are entering their prime earnings years, finally getting out of debt, and will be able to buy assets in a period of higher interest rates and lower real asset values - an economy that is more "sane" than the one we just experienced for the last 5-7 years.

Older generations, particularly boomers, are exiting their prime earnings years. They must spend that wealth at some point. And the providers of those goods and services will be millennials.

None of this really addresses your point, which seems to be to sympathize with student loan forgiveness. I think that's a tricky issue. I think it's great for the folks who receive the forgiveness, and a bit unfair to taxpayers who repaid similar loans or who did not receive a college education. I don't think people will ever agree on this one.

One thing that I do think will be a benefit from the student loan debate, is that it seems that both sides can clearly agree that student loans are inflicting terrible damage on millions of individuals and society at large.

We need to stop giving them out. And significantly reform them. If we care about this problem enough to spend $300B to forgive debts for current borrowers, surely we care enough about the next generation to prevent them from taking on unreasonable student loan debt the next time around?

My vote:

1) End all federal student loan programs, privatizing the student loan market

2) Establish usury protections for borrowers (can't allow a 17/18 year old to get completely swindled as a "welcome to adulthood...")

3) Allow student loans to be discharged in bankruptcy. Eliminate that exemption.

Within a few years, or perhaps overnight, the 80/20 of the absurdities in higher education would be eliminated. Tuition would plummet, worthless degrees would cease to exist (because no sane lender is giving an 18 year old $100K to study "fashion design" if that student can declare bankruptcy), colleges would eliminate the focus on "experience" classes would be harder, tens or hundreds of thousands of administrative positions at colleges would be eliminated, and ROI would be carefully considered by students, parents, lenders, and colleges.

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Scott Mac
Austin, TX · Member since 2019 · 5k+ posts · 5k+ votes
4y
I think the solution is not to think of Melinals, X'ers, Boomers, the Greats, etc.. or the color of your skin, or if your a man or a woman, or where you come from...

I think the solution, no matter who you are, (If You Want It) is to go for the Gold yourself...

What ultimately matters is are you happy...are you willing to do what's needed to change if your not happy.

And all groups have people who are happy being a waitresses, or retail employee's or even a Hobo, as well as higher earning professional people and Entrepreneurs.

The way I see it is, it's not a group issue, it's a personal issue...

If you're constantly shouting about not having enough nickles in your pocket, but are too lazy to do what's needed to get more nickels--well I've never seen it rain nickles.

What I'm saying is that some people just seem happy to eat and party and that's it....

And THOSE who seek more---and actually do what's needed to get more....no numbers on a graph are going to mean very much when your working at making your pockets bulge full of money.

It's not enough just to want it, you have to want to do what's needed to get it.

Just my 2 cents.

If you want it bad enough, you'll sleep out in the rain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbWDkg4T3G4

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Chris SeveneyBusiness Member
Moderator
Investor · VA · Member since 2015 · 21k+ posts · 19k+ votes
4y
@Eric Bilderback
Can you further describe what you mean when you say they don’t have opportunities like others had?
With the advent of technology one could argue they have ALOT more than we had. We did not have the internet or the ability to learn as much as kids today. Kids today are 10x smarter than I was as a kid.
Have things gotten more expensive - yep. But the opportunity is still there and just like every generation, if you want it you need to go get it, it’s not gonna be given to you even though both political parties will make you believe differently.
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Eric Bilderback
OP
Real Estate Agent · Sisters, OR · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
4y
@Scott Mac I am probably being more provocative then I need to be but my point is that I see alot of people (I'm guilty of this myself) pounding their chest giving advice etc that were able to do things like buy real estate that is much more difficult to do today for young people sadly. And I have seen lots of people sound off etc about how this current young generation should not have had their loans paid back which I agree but these kids are being insulted and nobody ever points out that it is harder today to get ahead then it was for people in my generation by and large. People who owned assets made out big time at people/communities expense.

@Chris Seveney My overall point is that the chances of young people creating wealth today is much less then it was in prior generations. Technology, information, young people have more access to. But they have had terrible advice for the most part and older generations were able to buy real estate and start life at a much lower cost and that gave us more opportunity than younger folks today have. Personally you can have my phone I want more freedom and a job that pays enough to afford a comfortable home.
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Scott TrenchPro Member
Rental Property Investor · Denver, CO · Member since 2014 · 2k+ posts · 6k+ votes
4y
I believe that this data is about 8 years out of date. Millennial wealth has been skyrocketing, especially in the last few years. And, I believe Millennials are in great position to benefit from the economic realities that are ahead of us (in a relative sense).

Millennials are benefitting disproportionately from the great resignation. Millenial's net worth has doubled since the start of the pandemic.

Lower asset values mean that higher millennial paychecks buy a greater share of GDP per capita.

Fed policy of easy money ballooned asset values for the older generations over the past 10 years. That's coming to an end and was the real insidious evil that kept millennials down and ballooned inequality. Jerome Powell will inflict pain on everyone, but millennials will be hurt the least as they are entering their prime earnings years, finally getting out of debt, and will be able to buy assets in a period of higher interest rates and lower real asset values - an economy that is more "sane" than the one we just experienced for the last 5-7 years.

Older generations, particularly boomers, are exiting their prime earnings years. They must spend that wealth at some point. And the providers of those goods and services will be millennials.

None of this really addresses your point, which seems to be to sympathize with student loan forgiveness. I think that's a tricky issue. I think it's great for the folks who receive the forgiveness, and a bit unfair to taxpayers who repaid similar loans or who did not receive a college education. I don't think people will ever agree on this one.

One thing that I do think will be a benefit from the student loan debate, is that it seems that both sides can clearly agree that student loans are inflicting terrible damage on millions of individuals and society at large.

We need to stop giving them out. And significantly reform them. If we care about this problem enough to spend $300B to forgive debts for current borrowers, surely we care enough about the next generation to prevent them from taking on unreasonable student loan debt the next time around?

My vote:

1) End all federal student loan programs, privatizing the student loan market

2) Establish usury protections for borrowers (can't allow a 17/18 year old to get completely swindled as a "welcome to adulthood...")

3) Allow student loans to be discharged in bankruptcy. Eliminate that exemption.

Within a few years, or perhaps overnight, the 80/20 of the absurdities in higher education would be eliminated. Tuition would plummet, worthless degrees would cease to exist (because no sane lender is giving an 18 year old $100K to study "fashion design" if that student can declare bankruptcy), colleges would eliminate the focus on "experience" classes would be harder, tens or hundreds of thousands of administrative positions at colleges would be eliminated, and ROI would be carefully considered by students, parents, lenders, and colleges.

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Matt Devincenzo
Investor · Clairemont, CA · Member since 2011 · 3k+ posts · 2k+ votes
4y
Well as someone who falls into that bracket, I can say that for me and my family we're personally bucking that trend. I also will continue to sit and tell any and all of my peers that the govt's role is not nor should ever have been to cancel debt (student loan or otherwise). As others noted this is showing that those who own hard assets have their wealth increase over time due to inflation, and those that don't have the inverse effect.
A couple additional points though, many of the non asset owners will eventually buy a home(s) and then they too achieve the same result. This often happens later in the curve, and likely also happened later in the curve for the other generations, they've just aged past the point where they were on a downward trend.
Many of these people will also eventually receive an inheritance of some sort. It may be minimal overall, but that does have a tendency to push the older brackets higher as they get a 'kicker' later in life. This is especially true for many high COLA cities where a relative's home is paid off. I know many who ended up with grandma's house as Mom and Dad already own, so grandchildren are the next in line for the benefit.
“All the adversity I've had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me. You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.” — Walt Disney
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Bruce WoodruffPro Member
Contractor/Investor/Consultant · San Diego / Phoenix · Member since 2021 · 12k+ posts · 15k+ votes
4y
@Scott Trench While I generally agree with you about most things, and in this case the student loan debacle.....we must remember that no one is putting a gun to their heads and forcing them to take on that insane debt, they do it freely. Now for what reasons we can't say, but they do it and it is on them to deal with the consequences. I think parenting flaws and pressure have a bit to do with it.
But agreed, it must stop, it's ridiculous. I like the privatization concept, heck, I think everything should be privatized - except Military, Courts, Law Enforcement and the like....
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Chris SeveneyBusiness Member
Moderator
Investor · VA · Member since 2015 · 21k+ posts · 19k+ votes
4y
I also believe a major point being missed right now is the ability for remote work. Yes if you want to live in the hustle and bustle of a major city you are going to pay and likelihood of Buying before 35-40 is rare, but if you lived in a more modest area there are still plenty of areas where a nice home is under $250k and you have the ability to work remote for a company and make higher wages than you would if you were working local in that area.
25-30 years ago my guess is if you did the studies the average age of buying a home was not much different today, but today everyone thinks everything in life should happen immediately - the instant gratification factor.
https://www.stylight.com/Magazine/Home-And-Living/Average-Age-First-Time-Home-Buyer-May-Surprise/
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Eric Bilderback
OP
Real Estate Agent · Sisters, OR · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
4y
@Scott Trench the stats are not old the graph is.  This article makes a point about something I think is very important (which if people know me on here they know this) and you eluded to it, but the Fed is nothing more then politics. Millennials are the butt of almost every joke, they are soft, they have 15 soccer trophies and never scored a goal etc.  I recall listening to you say on a podcast that you had very high expectations for your life my biggest fear for millennials (which I missed by a couple years but I married one!, lol) is that they are being trained to have lower expectations. Demographically they are not forming families, or creating wealth to support those families. To me that is very sad and I think it is a huge deal and I wish more people were informed and talked about it. Some millennials will be in a great position to clean up. But I think more so than in past generations they will not have families or roots and part of that is due to the politics of money sadly.
(Just saw you had a link about millennial wealth I will look through it). This is a topic I feel strongly about and reinforces my opinion so I am biased.

@Matt Devincenzo If you inherit a bunch of money great but if you don't and you have transgender studies degree and your waiting tables and now your 30 it could be hard to get a girlfriend (getting rid of the man bun would help, but still). Paraphrase Abraham Lincoln here, "show me the policy that helps the guy and gal trying to scrap themselves up from the bottom to make something for themselves I am for that." Right now these folks who should have kids, a house, a solid career, and participate in their communities are doing so later and less often. And those same policies have also made many people rich or at least comfortable like me. I think it is worth pointing out and people humbling themselves a little bit.  I'm not for canceling anyones debt but I never heard anyone rip businesses for taking their PPP government handouts.

@Chris Seveney All of that is true but I think there are alot of folks who like to have roughly the same life prior generations had. They don't want to work on a computer and live in Indiana househack and buy rentals. I think they should. But the people whos lives we are speaking of seem to disagree.

Thanks for chiming in everyone I appreciate your comments and opinions,

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Jordan MoorheadBusiness Member
Real Estate Agent · Austin, TX · Member since 2015 · 5k+ posts · 3k+ votes
4y
I must have not gotten the memo because I'm in that generation and am not getting poorer
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John Cassel
Rental Property Investor · York, PA · Member since 2017 · 58 posts · 41 votes
4y

@Eric Bilderback This is unfortunately how the system is designed, people with hard assets like Real Estate are just smartly using the system to their advantage. Fiat money, money backed by nothing, like the US dollar is set to go to zero over time. It is nothing more than math. As the debt grows, the Fed will be forced to print more and more to have the same economic effect. A huge majority of that money goes into assets like real estate. Over time wages don't keep up which is why you see purchasing power of each generation getting worse over time. The next gen will be worse off than the current, barring a complete global collapse and a reset.
Google James Lavish's article on the debt spiral
We do have a looming problem on our hands though. With technology advancing by leaps and bounds we have a exponentially growing deflationary pressure. Technology makes things easier and cheaper to produce and our system cant handle deflation due to the debt. Governments will be forced to print more and more to keep some sort of inflation around as it erodes the debt. Eventually the technological deflationary pressure will be too strong leading to collapse of currencies around the world. The main currencies will most likely collapse as will but the top 2-3 will be around for a while.
Check out Jeff Booth's book The Price of Tomorrow
Real Estate will always be a great investment and it produces cash flow. That's why I buy multifamily to increase my wealth and income in today's world while also investing in Hard Money aka Bitcoin (long time horizon) for tomorrows world
2 Reply
Allen Wu
Rental Property Investor · Member since 2021 · 335 posts · 193 votes
4y
I hate to post a very direct response. But here it goes…please don’t judge me, just speaking candidly about my experience.
I’m a millennial. I’m a son of Parent’s who immigrated to the US with less than $10k in the bank. I’m a son of Parent’s who never graduated high school or college. I went to a lower / working class k-12 and never had private prep school type environment. I’m the first person in my family to go to college. I’m the first person in my family to get a masters degree. My parents raised me from a poor/working class and then into a lower middle class environment.

Now that I outlined the baseline to measure myself against. The entire smack talk on young Americans is bull. I still Believe in the American Dream. I followed the high income generating career paths. Kept jumping until I hit my salary number. Then, I invested the difference into real estate, stocks, bonds, etc.
The difference is, I grew up poor and back against the wall. I made It a priority to create generational wealth and wake up every morning to do that since my parents sacrifice so much for me and be contributed citizens to this great nation.

If I can do it, anyone in this country can. Takes hard work, dedication, and some luck. You can do it too!
23 Reply
Linda S.
Investor · Richmond, VA · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 2k+ votes
4y
@Eric Bilderback,
Everyone wants to class people by age groups, but I think it just goes down to individual personality/drive. Sorry, I don't buy it and not subscribing to the pitty party. I got a house for $18K in December 2021, so the cheap houses do exist still!
I see plenty of people in their early 30's and 20's hustling and making deals happen. They make a name for themselves and are making tons of money! Of course I see a ton more sitting comfortably not taking risks on the sidelines, but those that do take risks are often rewarded. I think if people really have a drive to be successful, they will. Those people who are complaining about housing not being affordable in are the same ones that think moving to the mid west is below them. It's often the entitled people of all generations that think stuff is too good for them. It's the entitled crap that bothers me most-- of all ages!
My sister is 41, a licensed dentist from an Ivy league school--who is now on a food stamps living at home with my parents and decided she doesn't want to be a dentist anymore. She has $100K + in student loans, but she choses to be lazy and instead milk the system for welfare benefits. I even asked her to come work with us one day, she told me she was "too good for it." Lazy is lazy IMO.
It's not a generational thing, it's a mindset.
15 Reply
Eric Bilderback
OP
Real Estate Agent · Sisters, OR · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
4y
Quote from @Jordan Moorhead:

I must have not gotten the memo because I'm in that generation and am not getting poorer
As you may have guessed this about demographic trends not any particular individual.
3 Reply
Bob E.
Queen Creek, AZ · Member since 2014 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
4y
I think the real issue with student debt is the universities selling overvalued degrees. Rather than forgiving everyones debt what the government should do is 1) Allow student debt to be discharged in BK so those in trouble can truly get out from under this burden. 2) Charge the colleges that sold worthless degrees the people that had debt discharged. 3) Get out of the loan business going forward, NOBODy should be an indentured servant to their government. 4) All future student loans should come from the colleges granting the degrees, they can use their endowments as collateral to get the cash to loan. 5) Government should bundle student debt into tranches, performing, non performing, partially performing, and sell it off to wall street investors (after step 1: making it dischargeable in BK). Buyers will likely price it at a discount and will then be able to work with borrowers to restructure the debt. That seems way more fair than just giving free money to a bunch of people that financed their graduate degree.
5 Reply
Anayo Awuzie
Member since 2020 · 15 posts · 11 votes
4y
I know your replies are going to be insane, but thank you for saying this, Eric!
2 Reply
Eric Bilderback
OP
Real Estate Agent · Sisters, OR · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
4y
@Linda S. its not about a pity party, its about making a conscious decision to create more wealth for people who own assets and tolerating the fact that this will make it much more difficult for people with no assets to create wealth for themselves. Individually everyone is responsible for their own life I get all that, but I can tell you with certainty that if we inflate the value of assets that will be very damaging to demographics that don't own assets, and that is wrong.

@Bob E. its more lucrative for the colleges to hire lobbyists and have taxpayers subsidize them, sucks for taxpayers but solid politics. Those Professor bennies ain't cheap.
2 Reply
Bob E.
Queen Creek, AZ · Member since 2014 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
4y
@Eric Bilderback So true. The other advantage of the government financing this is exactly what we see now, politicians short on votes can promise to forgive debt you just have to vote a certain way. Nothing better than having taxpayers dependent on YOU and begging for things.
3 Reply
Dale Summons
Rental Property Investor · Cockeysville, MD · Member since 2016 · 14 posts · 16 votes
4y
@Scott Mac
Pure gospel! Identity politics is a dry rotted wooden crutch. Opportunities are in abundance today like non ever! AirBnb, Uber, Toro, etc... To name a few. You can literally arbitrage an airBnb, lease a car for toro, use ubers own cars to make instant cash.. The excuses we place on racial groups are ridiculous.
2 Reply
Eric Bilderback
OP
Real Estate Agent · Sisters, OR · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
4y
Quote from @Dale Summons:

@Scott Mac
Pure gospel! Identity politics is a dry rotted wooden crutch. Opportunities are in abundance today like non ever! AirBnb, Uber, Toro, etc... To name a few. You can literally arbitrage an airBnb, lease a car for toro, use ubers own cars to make instant cash.. The excuses we place on racial groups are ridiculous.
I believe people on an individual level have 100% responsibility for their life and decisions. That being said it is wise in my opinion if America made it easier for more people to achieve the American Dream.
5 Reply
JD MartinBusiness Member
Moderator
Rock Star Extraordinaire · Northeast, TN · Member since 2015 · 10k+ posts · 16k+ votes
4y
My thoughts, in no particular order (and probably no particular coherence, either):
1. It doesn't really bother me either way about student loan debt cancellation. I can buy the argument that it should all be paid back (I had student loans many years ago, and I paid mine back), and I can also buy the argument that the amount cancelled is generally small potatoes and mostly helps those who never even completed a degree and drag the loan around like old luggage. Someone will have to pay the bill, but that someone will largely be millenials, Gen Z and whomever is coming next, not me, so have it.
2. A better setup would be to allow student loan debt to be discharged in bankruptcy. It's ridiculous that it's virtually the only debt that cannot be cancelled through a legitimate bankruptcy. Then instead of blanket forgiveness we let the system play out the same way we let it play out for anyone else including small businesses and corporations.
3. I believe millenials *in general* are less wealthy for the following reasons: they are younger, so they haven't had time to accumulate wealth; they are coddled and pampered since they started out as the wealthiest generation in the history of this country, and thus are less likely to be needy in the first place which is a huge incentive to income generation; they value things other than money (time, the environment, experiences, etc) and are less likely to make the tradeoffs that sometimes make you choose; they grew up in an "instant" society and have no attention spans whatsoever and less inclination to postpone gratification.
Naturally all of #3 doesn't apply to all millenials, but I think it's pretty spot-on in my experience with interacting and hiring them as workers. Some of those things they may have right - who says that it's better to make money than it is to have experiences? I wouldn't choose that path, but what makes my path right and theirs wrong? I see this in one of my grandsons, who coincidentally was helping me work on a bathroom today. He has virtually no interest in money except as a vehicle for having experiences. He's not a bad worker and he's a good kid (OK you know you're getting old when you call 22 year olds kids) but he does not have the killer drive that I have for sure. Of course I worry about his future, but as long as he's not leaning on me for support it really doesn't matter what I think he should be doing.
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Dan H.Pro Member
Investor · Poway, CA · Member since 2015 · 7k+ posts · 8k+ votes
4y
Quote from @Eric Bilderback:

@Scott Mac I am probably being more provocative then I need to be but my point is that I see alot of people (I'm guilty of this myself) pounding their chest giving advice etc that were able to do things like buy real estate that is much more difficult to do today for young people sadly. And I have seen lots of people sound off etc about how this current young generation should not have had their loans paid back which I agree but these kids are being insulted and nobody ever points out that it is harder today to get ahead then it was for people in my generation by and large. People who owned assets made out big time at people/communities expense.

@Chris Seveney My overall point is that the chances of young people creating wealth today is much less then it was in prior generations. Technology, information, young people have more access to. But they have had terrible advice for the most part and older generations were able to buy real estate and start life at a much lower cost and that gave us more opportunity than younger folks today have. Personally you can have my phone I want more freedom and a job that pays enough to afford a comfortable home.

>buy real estate that is much more difficult to do today for young people sadly

Why do you say it is more difficult? In 1990 the average home rate was over 10% and SW engineers were starting at ~$25k. 2021 OO SFR interest rates were below 3% and SW engineers were starting at over $80k at the company I worked for. FHA programs will finance at up to 96.5% LTV. The internet is full of knowledge to make purchasing financially easier (house hacking, BRRRR, other value adds, use of secondary unit rent to qualify for loan, 50% rule, 1% rule, etc). I would argue that 2015 to present have been some of the easiest times to acquire RE ever and achieve great ROI.
It is about choices and sacrifices. The student who sacrificed by sleeping on a couch to avoid accumulating college debt gets nothing. The person who chose to join the armed services to get college paid for and not need to go into debt for education does not get $10k forgiven. However, the SW engineer making $190k/year who took on debt for education rather than make the sacrifices to avoid the debt gets $10k forgiven. It is my view that the earning limit for debt forgiveness is far too high. It is my opinion that those who went to college are typically better off financially than those who never went to college. We are providing $10k not to our most needy citizens (in general).

I am a democrat, but I view this loan forgiveness as a flagrant attempt to purchase votes. The income cutoff should have been no higher than average area income.
Both parties do it (try to purchase votes), but it does not make it right.

4 Reply
Bruce WoodruffPro Member
Contractor/Investor/Consultant · San Diego / Phoenix · Member since 2021 · 12k+ posts · 15k+ votes
4y
Quote from @Eric Bilderback:

That would mean the Government getting out of the way. Lately they have been doing the opposite....

1 Reply
Eric Bilderback
OP
Real Estate Agent · Sisters, OR · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
4y
@Dan H.

I think the demographics are the most telling just look at family formation, young people are not having children, they are not getting married, the policies of our government are discouraging that. Which is the issue not the redonkulus college degrees the government is having tax payers finance.

1 Reply
Victor S.
WorldWide · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
4y
you will own nothing and be happy
2 Reply
Matthew Bowling
New to Real Estate · Worcester, MA · Member since 2021 · 63 posts · 48 votes
4y
Quote from @Scott Trench:

I believe that this data is about 8 years out of date. Millennial wealth has been skyrocketing, especially in the last few years. And, I believe Millennials are in great position to benefit from the economic realities that are ahead of us (in a relative sense).

Millennials are benefitting disproportionately from the great resignation. Millenial's net worth has doubled since the start of the pandemic.

Lower asset values mean that higher millennial paychecks buy a greater share of GDP per capita.

Fed policy of easy money ballooned asset values for the older generations over the past 10 years. That's coming to an end and was the real insidious evil that kept millennials down and ballooned inequality. Jerome Powell will inflict pain on everyone, but millennials will be hurt the least as they are entering their prime earnings years, finally getting out of debt, and will be able to buy assets in a period of higher interest rates and lower real asset values - an economy that is more "sane" than the one we just experienced for the last 5-7 years.

Older generations, particularly boomers, are exiting their prime earnings years. They must spend that wealth at some point. And the providers of those goods and services will be millennials.

None of this really addresses your point, which seems to be to sympathize with student loan forgiveness. I think that's a tricky issue. I think it's great for the folks who receive the forgiveness, and a bit unfair to taxpayers who repaid similar loans or who did not receive a college education. I don't think people will ever agree on this one.

One thing that I do think will be a benefit from the student loan debate, is that it seems that both sides can clearly agree that student loans are inflicting terrible damage on millions of individuals and society at large.

We need to stop giving them out. And significantly reform them. If we care about this problem enough to spend $300B to forgive debts for current borrowers, surely we care enough about the next generation to prevent them from taking on unreasonable student loan debt the next time around?

My vote:

1) End all federal student loan programs, privatizing the student loan market

2) Establish usury protections for borrowers (can't allow a 17/18 year old to get completely swindled as a "welcome to adulthood...")

3) Allow student loans to be discharged in bankruptcy. Eliminate that exemption.

Within a few years, or perhaps overnight, the 80/20 of the absurdities in higher education would be eliminated. Tuition would plummet, worthless degrees would cease to exist (because no sane lender is giving an 18 year old $100K to study "fashion design" if that student can declare bankruptcy), colleges would eliminate the focus on "experience" classes would be harder, tens or hundreds of thousands of administrative positions at colleges would be eliminated, and ROI would be carefully considered by students, parents, lenders, and colleges.

Preach! According to the NAR, millennials are now the largest segment of home buyers at 43% They are also the most educated, which as we know historically produces higher incomes over a lifetime. They're inheriting wealth at a rapid pace and buying houses!
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