Gen Z & the Debt Trap, Part 2: Hemorrhaging Money

WSJ Your Money Briefing

The Wall Street Journal

News, Business News

3.8 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 21 August 2024

⏱️ 15 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Gen Z’s debt won’t just affect them. It could be a problem for everyone. In the second episode of our three-part series “Gen Z & the Debt Trap,” we talk with TransUnion and Credit Karma experts to discuss potential consequences of Gen Z’s debt for past generations and those to come. We’ll also get to know 25-year-old Gaia Jacobs, who says she traded her dream career for a steady job in order to pay off her debt. Plus, we talk with a mental-health professional from the American Psychiatric Association to learn how Gen Zers’ spending habits could be making the problem worse. Tadeo Ruiz Sandoval hosts. Sign up for the WSJ's free Markets A.M. newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:14.3	slash Wall Street.
0:18.6	Hello I'm to the reason of all for the Wall Street Journal and lately I've been
0:24.7	wondering how I'm going to pay off the nearly $35,000 in student loans that I will
0:30.6	owe when I graduate.
0:38.0	When I look to my future, that debt is the first thing I think of. How long will it take me to pay it down?
0:40.0	Will I have to delay getting married or having a house? Those thoughts keep me up at night.
0:48.4	Facing all these questions, I wanted to know what other gensiers like me did when their dead loomed so large.
0:55.3	So I reached out to the National Foundation for Credit Counseling or
0:59.5	NFCC, a group that provides financial counseling for people struggling with debt.
1:06.4	Bruce McCleary oversees membership and serves as a spokesman for the NFCC.
1:11.9	He said Gen Ziers mostly sought the NFC's help to manage their student loans.
1:17.2	But last year he noticed more Gen Ziers requesting counseling for something different.
1:23.0	More commonly we're seeing that they're reaching out for assistance with
1:28.0	affordable repayment of their credit card debt, and in some cases they've already fallen behind on their payments and they're getting hit with late fees over limit fees.
1:36.0	Bruce said if Gen Ziers aren't able to pay off their debt, that poses a risk that doesn't just affect them.
1:42.0	Turns out it's bigger than that. poses a risk that doesn't just affect them.
1:42.8	Turns out it's bigger than that.
1:45.5	The debt that Gen Z is accumulating,
1:48.1	which includes student loan debt,
	...

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