BEHIND THE MIKE

The sad and horrifying truth of the matter is: No one is going to take care of your retirement but you. Scary but true.

It is safe to say that Millennials should be saving about 40-45% of their gross income if they expect to even have a retirement. Thought to be materialistic, spoiled and saddled with a sense of entitlement, the cold hard truth will finally hit Millennials when the clock starts to run out on them.

Paying off student loan debt has created an even greater financial burden than many can handle and until Trump’s agenda actually kicked in, job opportunities for many of them had lessened, leaving 15% of them out of work in their early twenties.

No wonder they are lining up with Bernie Sanders and his ilk in favor of the promised free ride of the socialist left. The saddest part of all of this is, once you fall behind, it only gets worse. Economic fallout from 9/11 and the market crash of 2008 could end up producing a 20-year recovery cycle.

As a result, the smarter ones have done away with credit cards and have begun viewing investment choices as distrustful, especially when rendered by their parents. The others, who buy their clothes, cars and technological gadgets on credit, will learn the harsh realities of charging it.

One of the most disturbing findings was that seven out of ten young people define financial stability as being able to pay all their bills each month. Many of these same studies say women are the more frugal of the two sexes and place a higher emphasis on saving money.

When I have the opportunity to speak in high schools and colleges in Florida, I remind them of the wonderful opportunities that young people have today, but they must start out by saving 40-45% of their gross income… if they want to have a retirement one day.

How the money is invested is really irrelevant. What is important is that they save, beginning with the first dollars they earn. This flies in the face of many of those poor millennial spending habits of buying designer clothes at Sam’s Club and Costco as well and purchasing cheaper beer and brands of wine.

Credit card debt, home and car purchases have driven lenders to tighten their requirements for loans and extensions of credit. The good news is that a surprising number of Millennials live within their means even if their overall level of financial literacy is relatively modest.

Pay and compensation are always major factors for Millennials seeking new employment, but surprisingly neither are as important as being treated with respect and fairness. Today’s college graduates will have 14 to 20 jobs before they are 38 years of age.

Autonomy, respect, being treated fairly and access to digital information has driven Millennials as much as income and work that enriches not only themselves but the world around them.

It could be that Millennials are fast becoming the best savers of all. Many grew up in hard financial times and often had to do without in their youth.

Moreover, many understand the importance of saving for retirement because they know that the days of living off a Social Security check are long gone, not because social security will not be there, but because it simply is not enough.

However, they also do have a real fear that the prospect of no Social Security is real to their generation. Their concept that “There will not be any money left!” could become a self-fulfilling prophesy. Bottom line… they will have to bankroll their own retirement.

Many Millennials learned early on the ramifications of bad spending habits from their own parents, who were not exactly financial stalwarts and who find themselves working into their seventies.

Working forever is not in the cards for Millennials. No one is going to take care of their retirement but them.

Michael Aun is the recipient of the Phil Hoche Lifetime Achievement Award for the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors.