Young adults spend more time at work pondering bills and crunching numbers than their slightly older peers.
When it comes to personal finances, there’s a significant confidence gap between the Millennials and baby boomers, according to a new report published recently by USA Today.
Among 18- to 34-year-olds, 48% felt very positive about their financial future, according to a report from Bank of America Merrill Lynch. That’s compared to 22% of baby boomers who may be caring for aging parents—and paying their children’s college tuition—while facing a limited timeline to earn enough to pay for it all.
“Younger people have a longer horizon ahead of them,’’ said Kevin Crain, Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s head of workplace solutions. “Obviously for a Baby Boomer, that time frame is much different on a whole lot of different fronts.”
Also, young adults spend more time at work pondering bills and crunching numbers than their slightly older peers.
The online poll, conducted by Boston Research Technologies, surveyed 1,242 workers, all of whom had to be currently enrolled in a 401(k) plan.
PERSONAL MATTERS
Millennials said they spent four hours a week on average poring over personal financial matters at the office, as compared to the two hours spent by Gen X’ers, and the hour spent by baby boomers, according to USA Today.
Crain said that at some level, the large amount of time Millennials spend pondering their finances shows that they at least realize the importance of thinking about their financial goals. But all that fretting can impede an employee’s work performance as well as their health.
Lastly, more than twice as many Millennials as baby boomers said that stress negatively impacts their work. Moreover, 68% of 20- and 30-somethings said stress takes a toll on their health, vs. 56% of Generation X and 51% of those in their 50s and 60s.