Americans are optimistic about their financial future, even though two-thirds ushered in the new decade feeling burdened by debt, according to a new survey by LendingTree, an online lending marketplace.
Nearly half of the respondents (48%) felt optimistic about their financial situation heading into the 2020s, and more than half (53%) believed they would get ahead financially in the next decade. Further, 64% believed they would be debt-free by 2030, according to the survey.
Conducted in December with 1,552 American consumers, the survey found that just 11% of people are pessimistic about their finances entering the new decade.
Millennials, the survey found, are the most confident in their financial future despite feeling the most burdened by debt. Sixty-seven percent of millennials feel buried in debt, while the same number believes they will be debt-free by 2030.
Gen Xers are also enthusiastic about their financial future, while Gen Zers, those aged 18 to 22 in 2019, have a neutral outlook about their finances, perhaps because of their younger age, the survey said, noting that the silent generation is less neutral, perhaps because its members are older.
Older generations, the survey showed, are the least stressed about debt. More than half (54%) of baby boomers and 63% of respondents in the silent generation indicated they are not being weighed down by debt.
Along gender lines, 53% of men feel optimistic about their finances versus 43% of women. What’s more, nearly 62% of men surveyed think they will get ahead financially in the 2020s while only 44% of women think the same way.
Women also have less financial confidence in general than men, and feel less satisfied with their current financial situations; 14% of women reported their current financial situation as "excellent," while 21% of men did.
Additionally, the survey found that the biggest debt stressors are credit card debt (36.7%), followed by student loan debt (20.7%), which disproportionately affects younger generations. Medical debt (13.7%) rounded out the top three.