For Many Older Millennials, Student Loan Debt Delayed Buying Homes, Starting Families and Pursuing Creative Careers
by Adam Felts
AgeLab Research Scientist Julie Miller provides her thoughts for a CNBC article on the impact of student loans on the Millennial generation:
Historically, hitting 40 is a time that can be marked by a sense of scarcity, even without the burden of student loan debt, says Julie Miller, a research scientist at the MIT AgeLab. “At midlife, at least historically, that’s where many people are financially squeezed between saving for their futures and saving for their children,” she says.
Adding student debt to an already expensive time can “put people in very precarious situations,” Miller adds. That could mean lower lifetime savings rates for retirement and less opportunity to build wealth.
That can carry over to relationships, Miller adds, saying that may be one more reason why millennial marriage rates are lower. “There are really huge implications for how loans and relationships come together,” she says. If one partner has student loan debt, there are conversations and decisions that need to be made about how to treat that debt, she says.
But student loans may also offer some positive outcomes as well, such as increased financial literacy. “Older millennials are kind of pioneers in figuring out how to navigate, largely without the help of parents, how to build up their own financial savvy,” Miller says.
Read the full story here.
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