Generation Y Are a Bunch of Lazy Irresponsible Bums

MSN has an article about "Why Generation Y is Broke" which you can read in it's three page entirety here.

The first example of a person in this age bracket that they provide is a photographer with a $60,000 college debt who doesn't even open up her bills. When urged by her friends to see a financial advisor instead of going and actually seeing one she just tosses her unopened bills into a FedEx box and ships it off to have it looked at. Hardly an example of the majority is it? I hope not. The article goes on in this tone about how bad this age group is with money even going so far to point out how people aged between 25 and 34 make up 22% of all foreclosures. They even have a link where you can post comments titled "Is Generation Y just dumb or lazy? How about neither?

The article fails to ever mention the conditions this generation has grown up in. Where is this generation supposed to learn financial responsibility when their parents were so financially irresponsible to begin with? Schools certainly don't teach any applicable financial responsibilities. From my own experience I have never seen something like "How to manage your finances 101" or "Introduction to personal investments." So without courses like these where are people supposed to learn these skills? If Generation Y comprises only 22% of bankruptcies then guess who comprises the other 78%? Their parents.

Many middle aged families are currently directly involved in the current financial downturn our economy is experiencing. They are the ones with the ARM loans, the incredible amount of high credit card debt, and the fancy cars with the high monthly payments. Many baby boomers had help from their parents who had become financially responsible by surviving the depression.

Perhaps it was this reliance on their parent's money which has fueled the constant fire of debt. I don't know. What I do know from personal experience is that I did not receive the same help that my parents did nor did many other people I know around my age. I do have a few grand in personal credit card debt which I am constantly working towards paying off very soon (hopefully!). This debt did not come from frugal spending but rather from being laid off. I was forced to resort to credit cards while searching for another job. That was over two and a half years ago but I am still paying for that to this day. Both my girlfriend and I still drive our old beater cars to avoid being locked into an additional payments thus putting off our credit card debt even more.

So I took offense to this piece just because it pointed the finger at a single generation when really it is a combination of factors. Even in my own personal experience you can be financially responsible but in today's volatile economy of high college tuitions, gas prices, groceries, and other goods combined with low job stability, low job growth, and rock solid low wages which don't look like they are ever going to budge.

Its no wonder many younger people are having a hard time not going into debt. Most start off on a "bad foot" because they are basically forced to pay themselves through four years of college just to have access to the same entry level jobs their parents waltzed straight out of high school into. So right away many graduates come out of the gate with anywhere from $20K to $60K in student loan debt. Then all they find are low paying volatile jobs which are highly likely to just end up laying them off after a short period of time anyway.