{"id":10515,"date":"2025-09-28T08:44:31","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T12:44:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=10515"},"modified":"2025-09-28T09:54:35","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T13:54:35","slug":"generation-xs-money-woes-take-spotlight-in-my-new-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=10515","title":{"rendered":"Generation X\u2019s money woes take spotlight in my new book"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"cover-wrap yf-1rjrr1\">Are you freaking out about retirement?<\/div>\n<div class=\"body-wrap yf-1sauy26\">\n<div class=\"body yf-h0on0w\" data-testid=\"article-body\">\n<div class=\"bodyItems-wrapper\">\n<p class=\"yf-1090901\">That\u2019s what many Gen Xers may be feeling. The oldest of the generation have reached that magical age of 59\u00bd when you can dip into retirement accounts without getting dinged by an early withdrawal penalty. The youngest Gen Xers have another 20 years to go before they become eligible for Medicare. That\u2019s not as far away as you might think.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1090901\">But you\u2019re probably still busy thinking about all the other responsibilities coming down the pike, like paying for your kids\u2019 college or caring for your aging parents. So maybe saving enough for a comfortable retirement of your own has taken a back seat. Or maybe you feel like you\u2019re only slightly behind\u2014there\u2019s still time, right? Or maybe, just maybe, you\u2019re up late with a calculator and a 401(k) statement, not sure how to make it all make sense.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/finance.yahoo.com\/news\/generation-xs-money-woes-take-spotlight-in-new-book-150018709.html\">Read on Yahoo Finance<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1090901\">You\u2019re not alone.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"yf-1woyvo2\">\n<li class=\"yf-1woyvo2\">\n<p class=\"yf-1090901\">1 in 4 Gen Xers don\u2019t have a retirement account at all, while the typical household for the generation has just $40,000 in retirement savings.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"yf-1woyvo2\">\n<p class=\"yf-1090901\">More than 3 in 5 Gen Xers are not confident in their ability to achieve a dream retirement, and nearly half believe they could outlive their savings.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"yf-1woyvo2\">\n<p class=\"yf-1090901\">The majority of the 64 million Americans born between 1965 and 1980 expect to postpone their retirement.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"wrapper yf-eondll\" data-testid=\"inarticle-ad\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"yf-1090901\">\u201cGen Xers have far less confidence in their financial futures than other generations,\u201d said Kelly LaVigne, vice president of consumer insights at Allianz Life.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1090901\">No kidding. But here\u2019s the thing. Despite being tagged as slackers growing up, that\u2019s not why many of us are behind on retirement readiness. Actually, some pretty big forces were working against us \u2014 namely, vanishing company pensions and the slow evolution of the 401(k) into \u201cthe\u201d retirement savings vehicle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1090901\">A 2021 report found that only 14% of us have a pension plan, as more companies closed these plans to new employees. Pensions, or defined benefit retirement plans, really began to phase out in the mid-1980s when Gen X was just entering the workforce. At the same time, more employers were adding 401(k)s. Still, these 401(k)s were not the robust savings vehicles they are today. For a long time, they were largely viewed as supplemental to pensions, and Congress did not foster the growth of these plans from their inception through the mid-1990s, right when the earliest Gen Xers needed to start saving.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1090901\">It wasn\u2019t until the oldest of us were 36 \u2014 in 2001 \u2014 that Congress increased the total maximum contribution and loosened rules around the pretax cap for employee contributions. Five years later \u2014 when the youngest of us hit our mid-20s and the oldest were over 40 \u2014 Congress finally passed legislation that encouraged employers to automatically enroll workers into 401(k) plans and allowed employers to provide default investments, two efforts to increase participation as it became more obvious that the 401(k) was a main pillar for a comfy retirement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"read-more-wrapper\" data-testid=\"read-more\">\n<p class=\"yf-1090901\">Those efforts were maybe too late for us. The average Gen Xer started saving for retirement at 31, while millennials and Gen Z got the savings message much earlier.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1090901\">As if our meager savings weren\u2019t bad enough, Gen X can also look forward to much lamer health benefits than the baby boomer generation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1090901\">Why is this important? Healthcare spending becomes a huge expense in retirement, especially in the latter years. And while Medicare is awesome, it doesn\u2019t cover every penny. There\u2019s a premium for Medicare Part B, the medical insurance part. There\u2019s also a deductible, copays, and co-insurance. Some retirees now purchase a Medigap plan to pay for these out-of-pocket costs, but it used to be that some employers offered supplemental insurance that covered these instead. Not much do anymore.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1090901\">\u201cThere\u2019s just a whole shift that kind of caught up with Gen X, and I think that they don\u2019t realize,\u201d said Judith Brown, a Gen Xer and a certified financial planner.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1090901\">Not to pile on, but add to all that the growing, unaddressed concerns over Social Security. The reserves for the social program that retirees depend on are expected to run out sometime in the early to mid-2030s, when benefits to seniors will be cut by around 20%. That\u2019s such heinous timing. The oldest of Gen X will be turning 70.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1090901\">Tellingly, the financial planners we interview regularly model out what a client\u2019s retirement would look like if Social Security benefits are cut. You know, just in case.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1090901\">Brian Ellenbecker, a certified financial planner and financial adviser at Shakespeare Wealth Management in Pewaukee, Wis., told us: \u201cWhen planning, making an adjustment for reduced future benefits is prudent.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1090901\">But it\u2019s so hard to plan for any of this when big things are in the way. Our average credit card debt is over $9,200 \u2014 almost 40 percent more than boomers and millennials. Those of us with student loans average over $44,000 of debt \u2014 the most of everyone. And we have to deal with not just our student loans, but maybe even a Direct PLUS loan we took out for our kids\u2019 education.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1090901\">Even if Brenda and Brandon leave the nest, that doesn\u2019t mean they aren\u2019t depending somewhat on our wallets and credit cards. Many of us are sandwiched between our children and aging parents, who require more of our time and financial resources.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1090901\">You may feel like time is running out, especially if the economy falters again.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1090901\">But we\u2019re here to say it\u2019s not time to give up. Gen Xers, the answer is simple. The answer is not \u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d as Lelaina said in &#8220;Reality Bites.&#8221; The answer is to rise to the challenge.<\/p>\n<p>Our generation is nothing but resilient and undaunted, traits borne from our earliest years as latchkey kids who weathered divorces, rode bikes \u2014 without helmets! \u2014 in search of pirate booty and dead bodies, and subsisted on Spam, Pop-Tarts, and Stouffer\u2019s microwavable mac and cheese while home alone. We ushered in a music revolution. We jump-started the computer age. We raged against the machine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1090901\">In fact, we\u2019ve already bounced back from one major whammy \u2014 the Great Recession. While Gen X lost the most wealth of all ages in the years after 2008, we also were the first generation to recover it all 10 years later, especially in housing equity. That equity has only grown since housing\u2019s go-go years during and after the pandemic. That\u2019s great news for the 72 percent of Gen Xers who own their homes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1090901\">We\u2019re also not a monolith. Depending on where you fall in the Gen X spectrum, your retirement outlook may differ. For instance, older Gen Xers are more likely to have pension plans than younger ones. But later Gen Xers didn\u2019t feel the pain of the tech bust in the early 2000s because many were either in school or had very little money invested in the stock market.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1090901\">\u201cWith Gen X, you\u2019ve got to split us right down the middle. You\u2019ve got young Gen X and older Gen X. And they hit things very differently,\u201d Bradley Schurman, author of &#8220;The Super Age,&#8221; who was born in 1974, told us.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1090901\">Plus, if you\u2019re in the younger Gen X set, your retirement vision may get a boost from the Great Wealth Transfer. The other big plus is that most of us are in our prime earning years.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1090901\">With some finagling here and adjustments there to your budget, priorities, and mindset, you can get on track to a better retirement outlook. And that\u2019s where we come in. We\u2019re stoked to help you find your way.<\/p>\n<p><em>The above is an excerpt from the forthcoming book &#8220;<\/em><a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3VG3IBf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener sponsored\" data-i13n=\"cpos:1;pos:1;elm:affiliate_link;elmt:premonetized\" data-ylk=\"slk:Retirement Bites: A Gen X Guide to Securing Your Financial Future;cpos:1;pos:1;elm:affiliate_link;elmt:premonetized;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-rapid_p=\"8\" data-v9y=\"1\"><em>Retirement Bites: A Gen X Guide to Securing Your Financial Future<\/em><\/a><em>,&#8221; by <a class=\"primary-link fin-size-large noUnderline yf-iqvwrv\" href=\"https:\/\/finance.yahoo.com\/author\/kerry-hannon\" target=\"_self\" data-ylk=\"elm:author;elmt:link;itc:0;slk:Kerry%20Hannon;sec:content-canvas\" data-rapid_p=\"3\" data-v9y=\"1\">Kerry Hannon<\/a> and Janna Herron.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1090901\"><em>Kerry Hannon is a columnist for Yahoo Finance. Janna Herron is a former editor and columnist for Yahoo Finance.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1090901\"><a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/preferences.newsletters.yahoo.net\/subscribe\/mindyourmoney\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" data-i13n=\"cpos:5;pos:1\" data-ylk=\"slk:Sign up for the Mind Your Money newsletter;cpos:5;pos:1;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-rapid_p=\"17\" data-v9y=\"1\"><strong>Sign up for the Mind Your Money newsletter<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1090901\"><a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/finance.yahoo.com\/topic\/personal-finance\" data-i13n=\"cpos:6;pos:1\" data-ylk=\"slk:Click here for the latest personal finance news to help you with investing, paying off debt, buying a home, retirement, and more;cpos:6;pos:1;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-rapid_p=\"18\" data-v9y=\"1\"><strong>Click here for the latest personal finance news to help you with investing, paying off debt, buying a home, retirement, and more<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1090901\"><a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/finance.yahoo.com\/news\/\" data-i13n=\"cpos:7;pos:1\" data-ylk=\"slk:Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo;cpos:7;pos:1;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-rapid_p=\"19\" data-v9y=\"1\"><strong>Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><a class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/finance.yahoo.com\/news\/\" data-i13n=\"cpos:8;pos:1\" data-ylk=\"slk:Finance;cpos:8;pos:1;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-rapid_p=\"20\" data-v9y=\"1\"><strong>Finance<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"view-cmts-bbcb498f-7433-423b-afb1-03bc9c632d29\" class=\"view-cmts yf-13m496w\" data-testid=\"view-comments\">\n<div class=\"icon fin-icon inherit-icn sz-x-large yf-sv6wwp\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-small.png?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"small\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Generation X\u2019s money woes take spotlight in my new book\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In &#8220;Retirement Bites: A Gen X Guide to Securing Your Financial Future,&#8221; the authors explain the many ways Gen X got squeezed \u2014 and what to do about it.<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"http:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-small.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top:5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"small\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Generation X\u2019s money woes take spotlight in my new book\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10299,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[101,9,674,31,597],"tags":[649,333],"class_list":["post-10515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-personal-finance-2","category-retirement","category-retirement-bites","category-saving-for-retirement","category-yahoo","tag-gen-x","tag-retirement"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/kerryhannon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Retirement-Bites-cover-scaled.jpg?fit=1651%2C2560&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3YFQS-2JB","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10515"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10515\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10518,"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10515\/revisions\/10518"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}