Gen Xers are falling behind financially: EBRI
They are the first generation with career-long access to DC plans, but they’re in worse shape financially than previous generations.
Much has been written about the how millennials today are slower to marry and buy homes than young people of the same age in previous generations, but they are not alone. Their Gen X elders have also fallen behind in the markers for economic maturity.
According to a new report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), Gen X households — called the “sandwich generation” because they’re caught between paying for college, caring for their parents and saving for their own retirement — are also less likely to own a home than prior generations of the same age, 40 to 51.
Slightly more than 65% of families headed by a Gen Xer owned their home in 2016, down from just over 75% and nearly 72% in 2004 and 1992, respectively, according to EBRI.
Similar differences were seen for the percentages of Gen-X-led families having any type of retirement plan: 67% in 2016 versus roughly 72% and 73% in 2004 and 1992.
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