While they're optimistic about the future, millennials are a financially anxious group, with 1 out of every 20 worrying about money on an hourly basis — and they say it's weighing down their careers.
That's according to the 2016 Northwestern Mutual Planning & Progress Study, which found that millennials are less likely to expect more financial crises, with 66 percent of them predicting such woes, compared with Gen Xers, 76 percent of whom foresee additional financial meltdowns, or with Americans 50 and older, 80 percent of whom expect financial woes to come.
And 86 percent of millennials (those aged 18 to 34) believe that they'll achieve their financial goals — this despite their current financial worries. But that has made them a planning generation, with 58 percent of them classifying themselves as "highly disciplined" or "disciplined" financial planners.
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In addition, 40 percent of them see lack of planning as an obstacle to being financially secure in retirement, compared with just 28 percent of those two older generations: the 35- to 49-year-old Gen Xers and the 50-and-over folks.
Despite their plans, however, millennials have some substantial financial worries, with their top concerns being day-to-day expenses (50 percent), unexpected expenses (45 percent) and student loan debt (34 percent). And 60 percent of those experiencing financial anxiety say that it negatively impacts their career, compared with just 41 percent of the general population who feel that way.
In fact, asked how they would live life differently if they were financially secure, millennials were the most likely out of the population, at 39 percent, to say that they'd "pursue dream or passion" — just 29 percent of the general population said that. And, among those suffering from financial anxiety, 80 percent of millennials said that getting rid of all that stress over money would positively affect their careers; just 66 percent of the general population felt that way.
Considering that this is the generation, more than any other, who chose "satisfying career" as a part of the American Dream, that's probably not surprising.
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