Teen Expectations in an Erratic Economy

I remember an astonishingly optimistic conversation with a bright, talented friend who was finishing up college at Vanderbilt in 2002. As he weighed whether to attend an Ivy League institution for law school or to accept a full scholarship to a JD/MBA program at Vanderbilt, he proclaimed his goal: “To make a million dollars by the time I am 30.”

I thought this was ambitious but not unreasonable. In America at that time, many 20-somethings who preceded us made small fortunes in finance, technology, and real estate. I knew people who had accumulated a million dollars by age 30.

But then he clarified his goal: "No, I intend to make a million dollars in one year by the time I am 30."

Some may call this notion outrageous, but this hope was consistent with the positive expectations of the economy in previous generations.

Twelve years later in 2014, I had a similar conversation about expectations of the future with an extraordinarily bright 23-year-old woman who had graduated from a top-20 national university. As we looked into the future, she scoffed at the idea of exceeding her parents’ material wealth and simply said, “My friends and I just hope we don’t have to depend on our parents to pay our bills.”

It was a stark contrast but one that reflects the shift in mindset over the past decade in the wake of economic difficulty in America. The majority of American young people forecast a bleak outlook on the financial future.

Some look at the slow recovery of the last five years as a sign that American prosperity will continue. Others view astronomical national debt and the stagnant GDP as indicators that an economic catastrophe will come in the next decade.

Regardless of economic prognostications, one position is undoubtedly accurate: the future economy will be unpredictable. A healthy degree of wisdom probably underlies the skeptical viewpoint of young people who view the economy as mutable and unreliable.

Given the amount of economic uncertainty, how do we spiritually prepare students for a fruitful, peaceful life? Keep reading

Today's erratic economy provides numerous opportunities for churches to minister to teenagers and young adults in such areas as work skills training, resume writing, job placement, budgeting, and money management, to name just a few. Christians need to demonstrate that they are genuinely interested in teenagers and young adults, their problems, and their concerns.