“The buy now, pay later lifestyle that so many baby boomers have become accustomed to is slowly rubbing off on their children,” says Jessie Conners, former Apprentice and author of Nightmare Nation: Redefining the Pursuit of the American Dream.
Since Gen Yers spend over $175.1 billion dollars per year, it’s no wonder that retailers and credit card companies are targeting them much more than they did in the past.
“A recent survey by the NSW Office of Fair Trading found that people between the ages of eighteen and twenty-four have an average debt of over $3,000,” says Ms. Conners. “And for those who have credit cards, their debt is over $6,000.”
In Nightmare Nation, Ms. Conners addresses how credit card companies are targeting high school students as well, and how the average Gen Yers are knee-deep in student loans and credit card debts before they enter the workplace.
“According to MSN Money,” Ms. Conners notes, “one in three high school seniors have credit cards. For credit-swamped Gen Yers, creating wealth for the long-term can seem like an unrealistic goal.”
Ms. Conners discusses how crucial it is for parents to educate their children on how to manage their money and teach them the importance of following a personal budget.
Nightmare Nation instructs readers how to:
• Get out of debt.
• Create other sources of income.
• Change their attitudes toward savings money.
• Set up retirement accounts now, no matter what their ages.
• Invest!
Ms. Conners has made countless television appearances, including Oprah, CNBC and The Today Show, and was recently interviewed by Chuck Jaffe of Your Money Radio. She also has upcoming interviews scheduled with WOCM-FM.
The author works as a nationally acclaimed keynote speaker, appearing at over 300 events a year. Currently a real estate broker, she started her own marketing firm at seventeen years old and began investing in real estate at nineteen.
