Growing up, I had the idea that my mother wasn’t financially literate. She had three kids, my two older siblings and me. While we weren’t rich, we lived a comfortable life thanks to my parents’ upper-middle-class salaries. My mother earned good money — she was a nurse for many years before being promoted to administrative roles. She exceled at her job and was well-known in her organization for saving an entire healthcare system millions of dollars every year as a director of the supply chain.
However, being skilled at managing finances in her professional life didn’t translate to her personal finances. My mother was drowning in credit card debt, doing everything she could to make us happy, even at the cost of her own well-being. As a kid, I would quietly slip away whenever we reached the checkout because I knew her mood would plummet once she saw the bill. No matter how much fun we had, the car ride home was often silent and filled with tension, erasing the joy of the day. Now, as an adult, I don’t blame my mother. She wasn’t alone in her struggles — she was part of the 48% of Americans living paycheck to paycheck, burdened by credit card debt they can’t pay off.
I didn’t fully grasp these statistics until I took a Dave Ramsey financial course. It was eye-opening to see just how many Americans are drowning in debt. Ramsey haas done extensive surveys and research. He has compiled a wealth of data on the personal debt of the American people. Now, some debt is inevitable for most Americans — for instance, very few people have hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy a home in cash. However, total non-mortgage debt remains alarmingly high. His studies found that people aged 30–39 carry the highest amount of non-mortgage debt, with a collective total reaching $1.24 trillion.
What caused this age group’s debt to be nearly double that of 18–29-year-olds? To find out, I asked Sharesse Moosang, a financial coach who has been leading a Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University class for the past 10 years, why this generation is struggling the most. Her response was: “If you look at the financial events in America over the past 15 years, you’ll see that this generation has faced many uncontrollable obstacles.”
The Daily Upside reported that millennials entered adulthood around 2008, when America was in financial turmoil. CNN Business noted that older millennials entered the job market during the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Entry-level jobs were scarce, and many older workers delayed retirement due to the financial crisis. This made it even harder for millennials to climb the corporate ladder.
The financial struggles caused by the 2008 recession left young millennials vulnerable to economic shocks, as many were unable to earn enough to pay off their debts. A decade later, just as the American Dream seemed more attainable, the COVID-19 pandemic emerged, creating new financial hurdles. Interest rates soared, and the housing market became increasingly unfavorable for first-time homebuyers. According to Business Insider, the housing boom quickly turned into a crisis, with starter homes being the hardest hit by shrinking inventory. As home prices continued to climb, the national median home sale price reached a record high of $386,888 in June 2021.
Looking back, these financial hardships have left many millennials feeling trapped, struggling to achieve the milestones that previous generations once took for granted. Burdened by debt, rising living costs, and an unpredictable economy, they have had to adapt, often delaying homeownership, starting families and saving for retirement. While some have found ways to navigate these challenges, the reality is that financial stability remains out of reach for many. As we move forward, it’s crucial to acknowledge these struggles and work toward solutions that provide future generations with better financial opportunities and security.
It had me thinking, was my mom a victim of financial illiteracy, or was she just navigating an impossible economy? Either way, she made it through by working with what she had, being frugal, and becoming more conscious of her spending, inching her way out of debt. My mother now lives on a quarter acre of land and built a house on it. Anything is possible.
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