Rachel Cruze: Are Boomers Really To Blame for Our Money Struggles?
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Kathryn Jackson
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Levi Leidy
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It’s easy to blame baby boomers for today’s financial struggles like housing costs or student debt. But according to personal finance expert Rachel Cruze, the problems may run deeper than any single generation.
Here are some examples of money struggles faced by younger generations, some of which may have been influenced by the baby boomer generation and some of which have nothing to do with them at all.
Student Loan Debt Has Become a Popular Option
Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that 44% of high school grads born between 1960 to 1964 and approximately 73% of high school grads born from 1980 to 1984 obtained either a two-year or a four-year college degree, reported Cruze, showing a nearly 30% increase in college attendance over just 20 years — which correlates with a huge increase in student loans.
She went on to explain that some boomers may have even been the first in the family to get a college degree, and may have encouraged their millennial children to get a college degree as well. With student loans being readily available it was possible to go to college and figure out student loan debt later.
According to a 2024 Pew Research Center survey, 22% of Americans feel the cost of a college degree is worth taking on a student loan. Even parents are willing to tackle loans for their child’s college degree. To help cover rising college costs, the Department of Education offers Parent Plus loans for parents of dependent undergrads. Over the past decade, the amount borrowed through these loans has surged more than 75%, climbing from about $62 billion in 2014 to nearly $110 billion in 2024, according to the Institute of Education Sciences.
Self-Care Is Being Prioritized by Younger Americans
Cruze noted that boomers historically have been less likely to participate in self-care, avoiding things like visiting the doctor and getting help with mental health issues. Comparatively, millennials are concerned with self-care physically and emotionally. The boomers’ poor habits could have caused the millennials and Gen Z to swing the other way, but Cruze remarked that she is not sure if they are to blame or not.
McKinsey & Company estimates the U.S. wellness market at over $500 billion annually, with younger generations (including millennials) driving that spending.
Relying On Debt Was Normalized by Boomers
Even though borrowing money for consumer goods was thought to be irresponsible and immoral in the early 1900s, after the Great Depression, it was necessary and became an accepted option, shared Cruze. The boomer generation was among the first to take on credit card debt and car loans.
Experian’s overview of credit card debt by age shows that baby boomers have an average balance of $6,795 while millennials’ average balance is $6,961. This information seems to show that millennials follow in their parents’ footsteps with credit card debt.
The Housing Market Was More Accessible for Boomers
Cruze discussed that boomers were able to get into the housing market fairly easily to buy their “forever home” while millennials are dealing with what feels like an inaccessible housing market today. She added that the boomers were not directly responsible for the housing market changes, though they’ve reaped the benefits of being able to own homes for many years.
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) report on 2025 homebuyers and sellers shows that baby boomers make up 42% of all homebuyers, while millennials are at 29%. A big reason for this is that roughly half of millennials (47%) say their income hasn’t risen along with housing costs, according to a Leaf Home study.
Boomers Were a More ‘Content Generation’
Because baby boomers have lived more within their means, avoiding overly expensive vacations and things like home remodels, and sometimes staying at the same jobs for years or even decades, Cruze calls them a very “content generation.” Millennials, on the other hand, are “trying to keep up with the Joneses” and often lead unsustainably expensive lifestyles, she said.
Boomers may have been more content because when they turned 30, jobs were stable and housing was affordable. Millennials reached that age amid soaring costs, student loans and fewer long-term guarantees regarding the job market.
Although the U.S. today is harder to afford for young people, millennials are leading the renovation trend, with 60% planning projects in 2025, according to Housing Wire. Millennials also are one of the biggest groups that were planning to increase their spending on travel at the end of 2024, according to Deloitte.
Millennials’ spending habits have landed them deeper in debt, and there has been a huge increase in members of the generation entering debt consolidation, as per USA Today. Their debt can’t be directly attributed to the boomer generation, though. Instead, it may simply be that millennials are making costlier choices than their parents, along with, of course, living in a costlier world in general.
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