When we talk about the midlife crisis, we are usually referring to the existential dilemmas faced by people between the ages of 40 and 50—a crisis characterized by a need to pursue new dreams or goals and to experience new emotions.

For millennials—at least in the United States—the meaning of a midlife crisis seems set to be very different: forget about tattoos—they already have them—or getting divorced—because many of them haven’t even gotten married. 

The midlife crisis among millennials, according to a study by the organization New America, has asadly financial aspect: despite the promising future their parents envisioned for them when they were children, the new generation reaches age 40 with less wealth than their parents. 

They earn 20% less than the previous generation of baby boomers at their age, despite being better educated; their incomes are more unstable, and, as an age group, they experience higher levels of poverty (one in five millennials is considered poor).

There are several reasons for this new reality, including the Great Recession of 2008–2009, the fact that a significant percentage of them have spent more years pursuing their education and the high cost of education itself: whereas a baby boomer’s main debt at age 40 used to be a mortgage, today it is debt incurred to pay for college and graduate school.

This trend is not just a demographic curiosity. New America highlights the significant implications for the economy and society as a whole. After all, theMillennials is the main economic forcetoday (they make up 22% of the population but account for 38% of the working-age population), and, in an environment that is not conducive to starting families, they are having fewer children, which creates significant uncertainties for the future.

You can view the study at https://www.newamerica.org/millennials/reports/emerging-millennial-wealth-gap/the-emerging-millennial-wealth-gap-opening-note/#:~:text=The%20most%20recent%20wealth%20data,a%20net%20worth%20of%20%2414%2C690.