As business enters into 2017 and the Trump Administration with high hopes for a new boom, individual households remain less than optimistic about their own financial future.
With overwhelming student debt, and factors such as increasing costs of living, a new housing and auto bubble, difficulty finding good work and the announcement that the Fed is raising interest rates in 2017 and beyond, many Americans are dealing with a pessimistic outlook that will be difficult to shake, even if the next administration kicks off on a high note.
Insurance companies surveyed the landscape of the American household, and found that the younger the individual, the worse their fears for the future of the economy.
The two younger generations, millennials and Generation X-ers (under 35 and under 50, respectively), are the two most worried, with nearly 40% of the youngest and slightly more than 30% of the second youngest group both personally concerned about repaying debts and staying afloat.
A return of American jobs and a revitalization of the economy – long overdue after Obama’s 8 years of false recovery – would be welcome change, but it isn’t something that younger Americans, many of whom voted against Trump, have much faith it.
Indeed, with so many systemic factors stacked against them, and the looming prospect of a deeply flawed and failing economy, there may be good reason for concern.
via Bloomberg:
Ah, 2017… While the new year marks a fresh start for many, millennials aren’t so optimistic. In fact, this generation is the only one to say they’re feeling worse, financially, about 2017 than 2016.
In the days following the election, Country Financial Group, an insurance and investment firm, conducted its annual financial security index and found that the score was lowest for millennials, defined as those between 18 and 34 years old, at 60.9 (the highest score is 100).
To determine its score, used a survey that asked over 1,000 Americans questions about their financial stability, like whether they had savings, or if their assets were adequately assured.
Generation X-ers, (people aged 35 to 49), had a score of 66.6. Boomers (between the ages of 50 to 64) came in at 69.2. The Silent Generation, defined as those over age of 65, had the highest score at 71.2.
Asked about economic outlook, millennials were the only generation to predict 2017 would be worse than 2016. Generation X wasn’t too optimistic, with 34 percent of those polled saying this year would be better than the last, compared to 31 who felt the opposite. Boomers and the Silent Generation felt most strongly that 2017 would be better for the American economy than 2016.
The feeling of impending doom wasn’t exclusively reserved for 2017: about a third of millennials surveyed said they don’t think they’ll have enough money to comfortably retire at all. About half of millennials said they hadn’t set any money aside, be that in investments or savings accounts, and 29 percent of this generation felt unsure about being able to pay off their debts.
As many people have unwisely taken on too much debt in the glut of cheap money – an era which is now rapidly coming to an end – there will be a desperate struggle to stay afloat and make ends meet.
For many Americans, credit card debt and other loans were the only means to keep going during an economic period that was stagnant and unforgiving. Though they borrowed money to pay bills, that flow didn’t result in better momentum in the way of pay, job advancement and personal household progress.
These are all bad signs for individuals Americans, and a testament to the fact that it will be a long road ahead to prosperity once again.
Read more:
As the Middle Class Dies, Millennials Give Up: “The American Dream Is Not Really Alive”
Prepare For Anything, Including Economic Collapse
29 Percent Of All U.S. Adults Under The Age Of 35 Are Living With Their Parents
Boomerang: Over 20 Million Adults Now Living With Their Parents; Massive Increase Since 2007
It Took 22 Years to Get to This Point
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I’m not worried nor am I worried for the people I care about. Have a huge pot of Chilli on the stove. Just let it come; I’ve had 4=6 years more than I thought I would, so let it be.
Paranoid, I hope you got some cornbread cookin too.
Not yet, will be in 2 hr.
Would someone please get HRC’S picture off the site, it’s everywhere and I for one am tired of looking at her!
Thank you! That ugly mug needs to go hide. Thanks for pointing it out. 🙂
I know you mentioned this before. I looked both times and no Hillary on my screen.
The Russian’s have hacked your setup…
cornbread
LOVE cornbread yummmmmmmmmm
and butter. Lots of butter.
Ho-Hum. Markets always implode at the end of the business cycle. This cycle appears to be ending, but it may not detonate for a couple more months. Optimism in the future is keeping them up for now, but reality will sink in eventually. The sooner the better.
The real wild cards on the horizon are Europe and China; either of which, or both, could trigger the Crash, or exacerbate it once the markets tank. Both economies are in much bigger bubbles than our own.
I have FELT for some time that the Crash could be delayed … again … since by all real measures of economic activity we are already in a recession, having never really emerged fully from the 2008/2009 Crash: at least it is for the 100 million out of the job market and evidenced by additional retail closings.
I would really hate to see current conditions linger until later in the year. Trumps policies will COLLAPSE China even if Europe can survive.
No getting around that. 🙂
this crash will have very little to do with any “business cycle”…THIS one will be one for the ages…epic, because it’s been fueled by this ponzi scheme of fiat money/debt…if you stripped out the money borrowing/printing of the last 10 years, we would be in a depression….and you may even be able to apply that statement to the last FORTY years…..the “powers that be” have very little “control” over this one…i will remind all of you that when we SPEND money, it ADDS to GDP……even though it has to be “paid back!”…..or DOES IT?
This crash will have EVERYTHING to do with the end of the business cycle. It always does. Granted cheap money has fueled a long “recovery” for the investment class, but Middle America has not regained their share of wealth which declined by 40%.
Money in the economy is created and destroyed every day in the USA. Most of it is credit (debt) which has been used to purchase real (physical) assets. Market value of those assets will decline precipitously when the markets crash and demand for them will drop. As ALWAYS. So we will see a significant resetting of value and prices.
Like ALWAYS.
Yes one could say that if you stripped out the debt of the last 40 years we would be in a perpetual depression.
That’s the HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION, and for the better.
I cringe when I think that our system of money, debt, and leverage for well and ill) might not exist in an alternative universe and the market forces of economy were returned and reduced to bartering and physical trades.
How primitive !!!
We enjoy the benefits of modern society and technological change that advance the quality of our lives precisely because of our financial system of fiat money, debt, and fractional reserve banking. 🙂
Paranoid, Braveheart LOVES chili; making me hungry.
As I look up from the stack of radiated tuna I just into the trash. I realize that it’s time to strip the junk out of our lives. We don’t need the “collect them all”, “batteries not included”, and “keeping up with the Jones’.” Meme. (BTW. We buried them in 2008).
We’re also done with HollyWeird, Kneeling FudBall Players, and having “Rocked until we Drop.”
This election has taught me just how many of us are clueless, dumbed down, slack jawwed, cut chewing primates.
Therefore, I look forward to the seeing the Haves when they Have not and the Didn’tDOnuttin’s actually getting nuttin.
Humble pie is on the menu, and all are welcome to dig in – just get your damn fork.
“Economy Is Going to Implode”
It did it in 2007 and hasn’t completely recovered.
Let her rip I’m ready. When you have nothing to loose or you have planned for it then you sleep at night and live a great life.
“Para”
Got one of those pressure cookers cooking a large chicken breast two leg and thighs, and wild rice. Using a 3000 watt inverter and a 12 volt battery. The battery was charge with a Solar panel. I place a small panel on it while it is being used. It cook completely frozen chicken in under 2 hrs. Right now 1530 hrs. it is just simmering until the wife gets home for dinner.
Sgt.
I’m on my wayeeee (in my best Missus Doubtfire voice)!
Sarge, Braveheart LOVES chicken.
Never cook any type of meat frozen, start from thawed, it just taste better. Last week I made fresh venison barley soup, today I’m smoken beef brisket, ribs, beans, cornbread and tilting some beer’s. It’s time to start planning the garden
Those who are not preped by now, never will be. I was ready for the ice storm yesterday, but we lucked out and it missed us. Big hunk of cornbread and a stick of butter!
Damn Sarge, what? no biscuits? Toss some blueberry jam with some and the fixins you got going on the table and I’ll stand graveyard watch.
Just set up the 2017 budget with NorseWoman today. No debt, no mortgage, and six months of expenses stashed away in every ‘must pay’ category like taxes and insurance (but not things like Christmas or Travel). Happy with that, but there are still too many black swans circling Norseland to think that I am secure. Rogue nation nukes, Dollar/debt collapse, Tariffs and Trade wars, anti-Trump riots, and the always present chance of being sick enough to go into a medical system that drains all your money.
Financial Collapse?? Got Phiz Silver Insurance to preserve your wealth? I think Trump will get rid of the US Dollar scam perpetrated by the Fed. It is a debt slave racket, that he will fight to get us out of. I hope so. Be prepared on that. Buy low sell high physical Metals. You won’t be disappointed.
Yes, be prepared for personal financial problems. There is a certainty, nothing is for sure. Loving spouse today, Jezebel tomorrow; or, Dr. Jekyll morphs into Mr. Hyde.
Prepping means different things to different people. But some things are universal, and apply to all of us rich, poor, good, and bad. It rains on all. But the rich have options that poor don’t.
Food is my main consideration. Having enough food and water. Everything else, is secondary. I am not going to completely neglect my medical preps. I just don’t put medicine as my main focus.
I know self defense is important, but I give it only a limited priority. Why? For personal reasons. I know that being prepped to defend the fort, could cost more, and still, it is never enough. That does not mean I do nothing.
Here are some things I do. I stretch and yawn before getting out of bed. Now, you’re saying, wtf. But, that is what Bruce Lee did when he woke up. Yawning, even forced yawning, brings blood and oxygen to your brain and eyes, making you more alert. Stretching wakes up your muscles and helps to get your heart and circulation going while you are lying prone after being in a state of suspended animation during sleep. This is what babies do instinctively. Try it. You will start feeling more aware, energetic, and cheerful; instead of grumpy, like many people.
Sleep in a dark room. If possible go to sleep shortly after sundown, and rise with or right before sun up. These are changes that not everyone can make, but in so doing, your health, vitality, and strength improve.
To become stronger, it is not always necessary to go to a gym. Some people enjoy gardening, long walks on the beach, or hiking up mountains. These things are wonderful ways to remain strong. Endurance is a crucial factor in survival. If you have to ride one hundred miles on a bicycle to get to a safe location, it helps to start off fit to begin with.
If you are old and disabled like many of us, no amount of preparation will overcome your age and physical limitations, as compared to an able bodied teenager. But this is no excuse for giving up. There are exercises for people in wheelchairs. There are people in chairs who would be able to get up out of them with the correct attitude; and some hard work.
Rich people suffer thinking they might some day be just another poor struggling nobody. If you have contempt for poor people, you live with this nagging private hell. If however you respect all people in spite of their finances, you can enjoy your blessings for as long as they are there, and if they are lost, you can accept your fate with dignity, until such time as your fortune returns, if it is in the cards for you, or not; so be it.
__
B from CA, spot on. I’m the same way. another thing important to me is being debt-free. My old Honda I paid for with cash. No type of loan or credit card bill for me to worry about. Don’t even have to worry about a repo man. If a repo man came to my place, I would send him on his merry way, with my 9mm being visible of course. Food, water, water purification, medical supplies, camping gear, heavy-duty clothing, guns, ammo, gun-cleaning gear, etc. are what I focus on. Most of my gear I’ve bought and paid for with cash from local sources. I don’t need any stinkin’ credit card bill with a high interest rate to slow down my prepping. Once I pay cash for something, I’m done with it. Zeus/WWTI thinks I’m stupid for never using credit for anything. Well, I say he’s stupid for thinking I’m wrong to be debt-free, so that makes us even.
That’s my take on things as well. There is always a way to manage; the only requirement is to give it some thought.
Like Braveheart, I have no credit cards. I figure that what I don’t pay in high interest rates stays in my pocket. There’s always a way around the “you must have a credit card” problem. If a someplace requires it for ID or some such, shop elsewhere. And I’ve stayed in some very nice hotels without it (e.g., Fairmont in SF) not that I travel much.
I was a single parent that learned to be very creative with very little. I learned to be thrifty as child (in the 50s); we didn’t have a lot but we kids didn’t know it. (Still remember having saved up 98 cents for a game [Sorry or some such] by turning in pop bottles, finding coins on the side walk, etc. for many months.)
B from CA.
Good Post.
Today I built a GIANT Slingshot frame. Once I get the elastics correct I will be able to lob all sorts of stuff. Silently. Flaming bags of dog and cat shit comes to mind.
Sad that all that we have done to warn others but they don’t listen. They continue on their merry way in life. No sympathy from me when it all goes down.
How about flaming liberals?
Throw more fuel on ’em!
Had a solid silver mail run today… 50 Maple leafs. We have been making some financial decisions lately, and my husband is slowly coming around to seeing the upside of PMs. But, as of yet, we still have tons of paper that I would like us out of.
I am absolutely positive that all the beta testing being done with the eradication of cash around the world is going to hit home in the not so distant future. The day that happens, Au and Ag are going to skyrocket, but people will not be able to access their own bank funds to buy any.
Like a thief in the night, when that day comes… whatcha got is whatcha have.
So right you are 2isone. You either have it (Phys Metals) or you don’t. So True, Like a Thief in the night. The people in India only got a 4 hour notice that 86% of their Rupies will be null and void. I would say that is about the worst possible case of bringing on an instant collapse. Stay alert and carry your weapons daily. Get an ankle holster and carry a 2nd piece. As you say 2 is one.
that sale on silver and gold won’t last forever! get it in yer hands while you can!
Them there younger folks are afraid because they are ignorant of how to take care of themselves!!! As a baby boomer, I’m old enough to have good sense and still young enough to use it. I’ve got more food growing at my place than I can possibly eat, enough seed to plant 50 acres, enough free-flowing water and methods to purify it beyond what I’ll need for the rest of my life. And I hate to think I would ever have to use as much ammo as we’ve got stored! I may have a few wrinkles, but one thing I’m NOT is afraid…
Let it implode, that’s why I prep. With the crap going on with China taking over islands, massing troops in mexico, I am ready. anyone who things that we are heading for a great year is delusional. Econmist V told us about this year. I believe it from my sources that this is a fact, and that it will happen. We are now in 2017.
HCKS.
paranoid.
Paranoid.
Then I would have to build a Giant Trebuchet. The thought of seeing Libtards with arms and legs flailing about in flight is appealing.
I could get enjoyment out of watching that. Especially if they land in the ‘Glades’. Lot of Hoo-doos out there.
PO’d, I would also enjoy seeing that. More than a few hungry gators in the glades, too.
If anyone is in debt, work on getting out of debt. Get everything you can now while you still can. Keep stacking and praying.
I don’t fear financial collapse for myself. I DO fear it for my adult children and my grandkids. Their attitude is “that’s just the old man (eye roll)” when I discuss the coming collapse.
Anyway, I’m done. I always lived a fairly self sufficient lifestyle and stayed out of debt mostly. After cranking up the prepping the last eight years, I’m tired of it and I’m gonna start drawing down my hundreds of jars of home canned food and some of my other useless stuff.
TEOTWAWKI never arrived and I’ll be dead and gone by the time it does.
toodaloo
Best to you JRS, been thinkin’ ‘long the same lines.
THAT MAKES 3 OF US!!
JRS: We are drawing down on preps also. Hubby sold off some bartering items recently, we are uncluttering and paring down gradually. There is more to living than constantly hoarding stuff for things that may never happen. Retirees have for the most part quit all this hoarding crap, and ones I know are going on w/their lives doing what they enjoy. Young people probably don’t have a future anyway. I have nieces and nephews and they’ll have to figure it all out. Many of us are tired of the hype, many quit for good after the y2k lies. No one on any site can give a time line. I have emailed King World news, Dave Hodges, Quayle, and other sites: zero answers. call them hypocrites and false prophets as some predicted in 2000 we would go into a dark age, like A. Jones and WND, etc. I knwo several couples who said they were thru hoarding since Trump got in.
Anyone predicting a collapse is lying to you. They don’t have any idea when or if such a thing is going to occur.
I feel the same way. With TRUMP in, we don’t have to worry about basic survival. Plus, I’m old. ‘Nuff said.
The implication of the article is old farts have failed our kids.
In a way we have, we didn’t kill LBJ Democrats and war protesters when we had a chance.
Realistically, we could not do that, but they basis for all of our kids problems starts with LBJ Democrats and war protesters in the 60’s.
I’ve really never had an “open” mind when it came to right and wrong. Vietnam was wrong, because a legal war had not been declared. The protesters were ignorant animals being taught propaganda instead of the civics and the constitutional way to stop an illegal war.
Today our economic system will be in decline, because of a generation of progressives destroying a successful economic system. It will suck, but until progressive Democrats are sanctioned, our kids are doomed to a servitude that was not as lucrative as ours was.
No reason we can’t enjoy life and prep on.
2017~the year for protein preps.
Probably won’t have a much of a garden this year. Have plenty in the pantry. Be a nice time to go see Yellowstone.
remember-this country is in debt way too deep.
It’s always a good time to see Yellowstone. Save a little cash stay in W Yellowstone or Cody. Cody has a great Winchester Firearms collection and worlds best plains indian stuff. Museum ticket used to be good for 2 days. Jackson is lovely but EXPENSIVE. Luck
I sleep just fine. I don’t have any credit cards. Have quite a stash of PMs. A small stash of edibles, just in case. Life is pretty good, actually. Planning out seeds and my spring / summer / fall garden. Not hard and it can be fun!
I am at the saturation point. Where any more stuff would be a burden than an asset. The urgency and the need is gone and at present I am settling in. I will still be paying attention to the news and my surroundings for future trouble.
rellik… I’ve always viewed 60’s war protesters as instrumental in ending the Vietnam war. That effort needs to be widely and heavily expanded for a chance to reverse the evolving police state superstate. The spy state is all encompassing. No push back from citizens while the evil is fine tuned daily.
As I said, that war was never legally declared. What happened on our streets and elsewhere was also illegal. The legal way, by, the vote could have shut it all down. But America has been saddled with Democrats, we, and the world suffer from their existence.
The way that war was ended fucked this country up, as we turned from the rule of law to the rule of political “Narrative”.
Fearing financial disaster ? As in a measure of wheat for a penny? Sounds like a good deal ? Until you find out a penny was a day’s wage back then. And a mesure was one meal.
A meal for a days wage is a bit extreme. No one would benefit by working their help at starvation wages. Itsin a employers best interest to pay their help as well a possible and still make a profit. If you have good employees and you wish to keep them pay them well. If they aint any good fire them.
Could it get so bad that people would work all day for a plate of beans?
The day after the election, consumer confidence jumped, and is still high. The stock market began a rise to historic levels. Announcements have been made to preserve thousands of US jobs, and yesterday a million-job US expansion was announced.
To counter this, the leftist media has begun a drumbeat of propaganda about the impending doom awaiting the Trump economy.
So when you see someone telling you the world is going to come to an end this year, just remember the left hates Trump and is going to obstruct him any way they can, and spend the next four years telling you exactly how much worse off you are.
After reading some of these comments, they should now change the name of this site to the Sheep Hit The Fan. So ya’ll gave up waiting for one war, while the other one is raging. It’s a war for your mind, your culture, your women and your children. Apparently they now have won over your minds without even firing a shot, by giving you a new savior who is going to fix everything for you…..again. Trump is one of them. Figure it out. It’s right there in front of you. And that’s what you should be upset about. You got fooled again. You didn’t accomplish anything with your vote. In fact you lost. You had no choice. So while they’re laughing you’re going to quit. It’s not time to quit. It’s time fall back and make a stand again.
Prepping for some seems to be for personal survival. This new prep is for cultural survival.
If you stop being an example and a teacher then you might as well turn yourselves in. I’m not quitting. I can’t, I’m not out in the middle of the country. I’m surrounded by the insane and invading army. The people born to this country lost this country when they lost the ability identify as white and Christian. The planners first destroyed the cities and their ethnic neighborhoods, then they destroyed the churches, then they went after the American culture, of the unequal right of the best and the brightest to succeed on their own merits. And now they are now they are going after the children in the schools that they are supposed to be educating against all these evils of Marxist PC equality. This country was built on equal opportunity, not built on equal results.
Yeah, prepping should be done because everyone should know that there is no one out there to give you both freedom and security nor income. You should have to secure both of those and the latter for yourself. Handing off those responsibilities and then begging for your freedom back is the problem. There are a lot of evil people out there to be rid of. That’s why they make rules against instant justice and judgement. Yeah, don’t judge anyone. But only let those now in charge judge you.
Whatever, it’s pretty simple if you step back and just look. The melting pot was only working when there was a majority whom were moral and just. It was a b.s idea from the start, especially when the vanilla pudding started getting darker and darker. Yeah, let’s face it, that’s a big part of the problem that’s being initiated from the top. Along with the dumbing down of America, the looting of it, the joblessness and creeping hopelessness.
That’s all that I have to say about this except again, wake up people, Trump is one of them. If you give up now it’s really is over. Explain that to the people that think that Trump isn’t the same as Hillary. I know, that would be a feat, but it needs to be done.
Relax, I could give up on prepping today, and still be cleaning out stuff in 10 years.
Search for a Ebook called TwistingCapital, it has several ideas to save money
I cringe when I think that our system of money, debt, and leverage for well and ill) might not exist in an alternative universe and the market forces of economy were returned and reduced to bartering and physical trades.
How primitive !!! That statement caused me to ponder for a bit. I think anyone who would fear a return to bartering and physical trades must be a parasite who doesn’t have any know how or people skills. Bartering and physical skills would level the playing field. Of course no one would be paid millions to play games ,be a actor or any of the thousands of parasite occupations that exist. I made my entire living by bartering and working physical trades. When I worked for a pay check at a physical trade I bartered a hour of work for a certain number of dollars. I would embrace a collapse. It would separate the parasite takers from the producing makers. Let the culling begin. That parasite Merl Streep and her hollyweird kind need additude adjustments or downright culling.
Matthew 13:24 The burning of the Tares is downright culling? Who gets culled? John 8:44,Rev. 2:9 Rev. 3:9 And the soddom and Gomorrah types ? It’s suppose to be a good thing? Regardless of how we all will suffer . Even so come soon.
I used to think that I would just move to someplace like Belize to escape the carnage. Then
I realized that the Belizian dollar is pegged 2 to 1 to the American dollar. When the American dollar tanks, so will all of the other fiat currencies. Would you really be any safer
living in some banana republic like Belize, Costa Rica, or Panama ? Think about it. When
this ship goes down, the whole world goes down. It’s almost too late to get out of Babylon.
The time to do that was about 10 years ago. By now you would have been established in
whatever hellhole you would have moved to. The southern hemisphere may still be your
best bet, however, there really is nowhere that is going to be untouched. We live in very
interesting and stressful times my friends. Be as wise as a serpent, and as wary as a dove.
Tread lightly.
B from CA:
I don’t know who you are–or where (in CA?) you are, but I want you to know that I visit this site specifically to read your contributions, which are invariably sane, useful, and literate.
Lots of valuable information and insight–and I appreciate it.
Now, as regards your prepping, and general approach to living, are you, perchance, in need of an aide de camp, a “Man Friday”–namely me?
I’m good company: bright, kind, vegan-and skilled in lots of practicalities. And counter to the thinking of most here, I’d much rather be somewhere along America’s warm coast when things go tits up.
Please give it some thought.
(Platonic “husband” would work for me as well, if you are so inclined.)
Cheers
Emphasize doing business exclusively with non-voters. It helps ensure that those responsible for this mess get what they deserve.