This piece is in collaboration with RentCafe.

Millennials are a contradictory generation.

Of all adult populations, they’re simultaneously the most highly educated and holding the most student loan debt.

They’re almost as likely to turn to YouTube for education as they are to a full-fledged book.

And while they’re very confident in their investment acumen, far more hold their investments in cryptocurrencies than index funds.

Before we look at all these contradictions, let’s define what a “Millennial” is. For our purposes today, we’ll be using the definition laid out by RentCafe in their report Millennial Statistics: Everything You Need to Known About Generation Y.

• Elder Millennials were born between 1981 and 1988.
• Young Millennials were born between 1988 and 1996.

That means the oldest Millennials are 43, while the youngest are 28. It’s a wide span, and Elder vs Young Millennials often have different life experiences. While a 28-year-old might not remember a time before the internet, a 43-year-old may have been able to make it to adulthood before getting online.

The RentCafe report covers a lot. I went through and picked out some of the data I found most interesting, especially as it applies to this generation’s financial life.

The Largest Generation

Believe it or not, Millennials make up the largest share of the adult population in America. The RentCafe data has them at 22% of the adult population, with the next largest group being Gen Z at 21%.

Millennials in particular overtook Boomers (who make up 20% of the adult population today) in 2019. Part of that is because of the math of mortality. At one point there were more Boomers. But the Millennial generation is decently large for a few other reasons, too.

First, some have Boomer parents, and there were a lot of Boomers.

Second, Millennials were born around the time that IVF started working. Not only did that mean more babies, but in the early days of IVF, there were a lot more twins. (And to some extent triplets.)

But the biggest reason Millennials are the largest generation right now is actually because of immigration — and specifically the age of people immigrating. Pew projects that this factor will keep the generation growing until it peaks in about 2033. After that, Millennials will get old enough that the mortality factor will start affecting their numbers, too.

The Most Highly Educated Generation

Millennials have more Bachelors, Masters and Doctorate degrees than any other generation. There’s a lot to be said about the history of college vs vocational education in America, but probably the most relevant to the Millennial generation was the Reagan administration’s decision to amplify a 1983 report called ‘A Nation At Risk.’

This report was a bit alarmist, but it motivated America to send its children to college, and lay the groundwork for future educational policy like NCLB, which also affected a large portion of the Millennial generation.

Whether or not educational policy actually led to desirable results is debatable. But it did set college as a standard in American discourse — especially as Millennials were growing up.

Another reason so many Millennials have higher degrees is because of the unfortunate timing of the Great Recession. Many Millennials were graduating high school or 4-year college programs at the Recession’s peak — and the recovery took well over a decade.

Companies weren’t keen to hire young, inexperienced people straight out of school during this time. But if you went too long without a job in your field, you wouldn’t have the experience needed when you reached the ‘right’ age.

That led many people to keep pursuing higher degrees, hoping it would make them more attractive to potential employers as they tried to wait the economic milieu out in the halls of scholarship.

Why do Millennials still have so much student loan debt?

Millennials have THE MOST student loan debt. As in half of it. The only other generation that has more total debt (student loan or otherwise) is Gen X, according to the RentCafe report. But as far as student loan debt on its own goes, Millennials take the crown.

Part of that is assuredly because of how much education Millennials have pursued. But there’s a few other factors that go into the equation, too.

First, one way prior generations paid for their children’s education was by borrowing against their home. But the housing bubble was at the core of the Great Recession, so that didn’t work out for a lot of people. In absence of as much parental support, Millennials turned more heavily to student loans.

In the wake of the Great Recession, many states implemented austerity measures when it came to higher education. That meant that state schools got silly expensive. What was once an affordable way to obtain a college degree was no longer so.

Another big problem is that after you get that degree, while it does increase your earnings compared to someone with a high school diploma only, Millennials never really attained the earnings they needed to pay things off, largely because of the economy they graduated into.

That’s thanks to the Great Recession in part to be sure. But separately, all this intersected with an unfortunate trend toward an alarming spread in income inequality that’s been brewing for decades.

TLDR: Less money to pay more loans equals more student debt over a longer period of time.

Millennials heart books

While 55% of Millennials use YouTube to learn new things, the RentCafe report shows that an even larger percentage — 60% — enjoying learning by reading a good old-fashioned book. I’m guessing that most both. You might use YouTube to learn how to fix something around the house because you need that visual aid. But if you want to get in-depth into a heady topic, you’re reaching for a book.

If you’re one of these Millennials, be sure to sign up to the Femme Frugality newsletter. I’m about to send out my favorite reads of 2024 in a couple weeks here. They’re really, really great books you’re not going to want to miss!

Millennials are eco-motivated spenders

Sixty-eight percent of Millennials believe that businesses have a significant impact on environmental outcomes, and 24% of them have stopped shopping with companies that they believe are producing negative outcomes.

If you want to sell to a Millennial, convince them that you’re green. Sixty-three percent report being willing to spend more for an environmentally-sustainable product or service.

Did you know you can secure solar and wind energy as a renter? When I did this, I felt better that my electricity bill wasn’t reflecting coal consumption, even though it was a little more expensive. It’s something you can do, too, if your state has deregulated energy markets!

Millennials are confident investors…but does that mean they’re good at it?

Forty-four percent of Millennials reported that they have advanced investing skills. But then their asset ownership looks like this:

• 38% of Millennials are invested in cryptocurrencies.
• 37% of Millennials are invested in stocks.
• 22% of Millennials are invested in ETFs.
• 21% of Millennials are invested in mutual funds.
• 15% of Millennials are invested in NFTs.
• 13% of Millennials are invested in index funds.

Don’t get me started on the irony of NFTs amongst the Beanie Baby generation.

But the numbers that startle me more are the percentage of Millennials holding cryptocurrency versus the percentage holding index funds.

Index funds — especially those tied to the S&P 500 — have a strong history of outperforming individual stock picks by even the most seasoned investors. They’re not the sexiest investment, but they’re generally viewed as one of the most reliable for long-term gains. They also tend to be cheaper than other mutual funds if you purchase the right index from the right place.

NOTE: I’m not a financial advisor. Take these words as generalized musings — not as individualized investment advice.

Cryptocurrencies, on the other hand, are generally not stable. You could argue that we’re starting to see some trends towards predictability with the measurement of crypto winters, but with the short time that crypto has been in existence, you have to look at even that data with a skeptical eye.

Since Millennials like books, allow me to recommend this one:

Cryptocurrencies are bad for the environment

Another problem with cryptocurrencies is that they’re massively bad for the environment. The mining of crypto requires incredible amounts of energy.

It’s super cute if you purchase that rPET purse, only buy clothes second-hand, and locally source your food from the farmer’s market every Saturday.

But if you’re also investing in crypto, odds are you’re offsetting all those good environment vibes you’re throwing out into the universe in a big way.

NOTE: Investing in an index fund tied to the S&P 500 means investing in companies tied to big oil and other bad-for-the-environment things. Divesting or picking an index fund with a less proven track record is an option that you could consider, though it comes with potential cons over the long-term. But when you hold even an S&P 500 index up to crypto, you know that 100% of your investment is tied to arguably irresponsible energy consumption when you go with the latter.

Cryptocurrencies are bad for society

Over the years, I’ve become increasingly convinced that cryptocurrencies are bad for society. The underlying philosophy behind them is one of intense individualism, which is counter to healthy human social structures.

There’s also the aim of no government regulation, which is worrisome. Regulation generally exists to protect investors and maintain societal values in the face of unbridled greed. If a truly unregulated market were to take over as the new gold standard, I worry that the world’s social structures would fare worse rather than better.

Your opinion may differ from mine. But the 44% confidence in advanced investing skills is interesting combined with the largest holding in such a wily investment.