{"id":6741,"date":"2021-09-23T10:30:30","date_gmt":"2021-09-23T10:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emoneyadvisor.com\/?post_type=thought_leadership&p=6741"},"modified":"2024-04-30T17:50:57","modified_gmt":"2024-04-30T17:50:57","slug":"the-weight-of-financial-wellness-on-generation-x","status":"publish","type":"thought_leadership","link":"https:\/\/emoneyadvisor.com\/blog\/the-weight-of-financial-wellness-on-generation-x\/","title":{"rendered":"The Weight of Financial Wellness on Generation X"},"content":{"rendered":"

Study after study is revealing the stress Generation X\u2014born between 1965 and 1980\u2014is experiencing due to the pressures on their personal finances. One reason? Their current age. Caught between raising their own kids and providing care for aging parents, they are the new sandwich generation\u2014likely to have a parent aged 65 or older and be supporting a child.<\/p>\n

In addition to caregiving challenges, this generation has significant debt and job insecurity. There has been a lot of focus on Millennials and the economic turmoil they have witnessed in their lifetimes, but work-life for Gen Xers has seen some significant upheaval. There was the Crash of 1987 followed by the bursting dot-com bubble in 2000 then the Great Recession in 2008 and finally the current pandemic, all causing many in this generation to be cycled in and out of the workforce numerous times.<\/p>\n

As a smaller generational cohort than Millennials and Baby Boomers, Gen X is often overlooked in research. But there are serious implications resulting from the above triple-threat of financial pressures.<\/p>\n

The Burden of Caregiving<\/h2>\n

According to a survey by New York Life, 34 percent of Gen Xers have been providing care for an aging parent during the pandemic while also caring for children of their own.1<\/sup>\u00a0Because Gen X caregivers are typically employed, this often impacts their work. Things like needing to go in late, leave early, or take time off may require them to seek employment that prioritizes flexibility over salary and robust benefits packages. It also means they may focus less on saving or be forced to take on more debt.<\/p>\n

Caregiving can be especially burdensome to Gen X women who are disproportionately more likely to be the ones taking on this role. The pandemic even saw economists coin a new term to describe the high volume of women being forced to leave the workforce to become caregivers\u2014she-cession.<\/p>\n

Too Much Debt<\/h2>\n

Generation X is dealing with a good deal of debt in the form of mortgages, credit cards, and student loans. In fact, this generation carries more debt across nearly all credit products than any other.2<\/sup><\/p>\n