Millennials know they have time on their side.
According to a study by Milwaukee-based Northwestern Mutual, most millennials--described as those between the ages of 18 and 34--feel positively about the future of the economy and their own personal finances even if they’re anxious about the present.
In the 2016 Northwestern Mutual Planning & Progress Study, millennials were least likely among the generations to anticipate financial crises in the future. While 66 percent of millennials thought there would be an additional financial crisis, 76 percent of Generation X respondents ages 35 to 49 and 80 percent of Americans older than 50 thought there wold be another crisis.
Most millennial respondents (86 percent) felt confident that they would reach their financial goals.
In the short term, 40 percent of millennial respondents believed the U.S. economy would improve in 2016, compared to fewer than one-third of the overall survey and one quarter of respondents older than 50.
Yet millennials are less comfortable with their personal finances in the short-term. One in 20 millennial respondents reported worrying about money on an hourly basis. Millennial respondents said that their top sources of financial anxiety included day-to-day expenses, unexpected expenses and student loan debt.
Anxiety is having an impact: 60 percent of the millennial respondents said that financial anxiety negatively impacts their careers, versus 41 percent of the general survey response.
A little more than one-in-three millennial respondents, 34 percent, believe that it is “not at all likely” that Social Security will be available than they retire, double the general population.
Perhaps that’s why more than half of the millennial respondents, 58 percent, consider themselves “highly disciplined” or “disciplined” financial planners.
Millennials, more than any other generation, reported that a lack of planning would be an impediment to financial security in retirement. While 40 percent of millennial respondents recognize that failure to plan creates an obstacle to retirement success, just 28 percent of the overall survey felt the same.