The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Editorials

March 14, 2008

Our View: Debt, money attitudes expensive

The Free Press

An alarming study on how Americans perceive debt tells us much about our view of material gain and ignoring its costs.

The survey, entitled “Debt — The Blind Spot on America’s Road to Retirement,” suggests we are deep in debt but won’t accept it as a problem. The study included respondents from all ages — Generation Y, Generation X, baby boomers and even those born before the end of World War II. But of particular concern were the results from the baby boomer generation.

As reported by the St. Paul Pioneer Press, the study from Securian Financial Group found that nearly half of those surveyed did not consider such things as credit card balances, overdue utility bills, loans or unpaid department store bills as debt.

Accept it or not, this debt appears to be putting retirement plans in jeopardy. Almost 25 percent of retirees said their debt “equaled or surpassed” their savings and investments at retirement time. Almost half said debt would hurt their ability to have a comfortable retirement.

Part of this comes from a generation that felt material gain was an overriding goal. Conspicuous consumerism at all costs was acceptable. Consider the popular poster “He who dies with the most toys wins.”

Somewhere along the road, boomers felt manageable credit payments rather than overall debt was acceptable. Such a perception would have been unthinkable to the parents of boomers who remember all too well a penny saved is a penny earned.

“The top goal in America now is not saving for retirement or savings for kids’ education, it’s paying off debt,” said Mathew Greenwald, of Mathew Greenwald & Associates, the Washington, D.C., research firm that conducted the survey.

There is hope. According to the survey, Gen Y — those in their 20s — recognize the dangers of indebtedness. About 83 percent do not accept debt as a normal part of life compared to 73 percent of baby boomers.

Greenwald suggests that Gen Y views debt negatively because they see the problems it caused for baby boomer parents and older siblings.

Even more promising is that 29 percent of Gen Y were embarrassed by their level of debt; only 18 percent of boomers felt that way.

“The fact that they are embarrassed about it means they will be motivated to get out of debt quickly,” Greenwald said.

And then there are the Gen Y fears that Social Security will not be there for them and they need to be responsible for themselves. Not an all together bad attitude to have in life.

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