The average net worth of Americans between 55 and 64 was $168,900, which is $6,400 lower than the average in 1989 when adjusted for inflation, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Members of the “baby boomer” generation have five times as much debt as the previous generation, and that’s causing economic trouble as people approach retirement.
“This is the first time where we have seen such a high degree of debt held by people at such a late stage of life,” Torsten Slok, chief economist at Deutsche Bank told the Wall Street Journal.
See if you can spot the housing bubble in this chart pic.twitter.com/TimM9YKRQx
— Nick Timiraos (@NickTimiraos) February 16, 2017
More than 43 percent of people over 65 were in debt in 2012, compared to just 30 percent in 1998, and for households nearing retirement, median savings has dropped 32 percent during the past decade to $14,500.
Millennials aren’t faring any better in the economy than those nearing retirement. A recent report from the Young Invincibles, a millennial advocacy group, showed that young Americans earn significantly less now than their parents earned in the 1980s. (RELATED: Millennials Financially Worse Off Than Their Parents Were As Young People)
The average amount of debt held by all households also increased slightly in 2016, climbing $226 billion nationwide in the fourth fiscal quarter, the greatest increase in America since 2005.
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