In a bitter echo of the last global financial crisis, young people are particularly unprepared to face a major economic downturn, as even in the best of times they were still struggling with debt and career insecurity at a scale and scope beyond that of older generations, according to the New York Times. The current economic crisis has only exacerbated these challenges, particularly where it concerns jobs, as they are much more likely to have been in part-time or gig economy work, both sectors which have been devastated by recent turmoil. With paychecks shrinking or even vanishing, more and more young people are wondering how they will pay off loans that are still due. Stock market news also means little to them, as only a minority ever really invests. And as this minority watches their portfolios shrink, some wonder why they ever even bothered in the first place. The Times noted that a similar thing happened in the wake of the 2008 crisis: Young people learned to largely distrust financial markets and so became loathe to invest.

Instructive at this time could be a Federal Reserve study from 2018 that found that those born in the 1980s bore the worst brunt of the 2008 financial crisis and might wind up forming a "lost generation" that never really fully recovers. The report said that, generally, the most rapid wealth accumulation happens earlier in life, with later wealth building upon it. Given that, for this cohort, their prime earnings years happened in the middle of a financial crisis, this means they have less to build upon than those who accumulated their assets beforehand. The report also pointed out that, relative to other generations, those born in the '80s tend to carry more debt, which can increase instability and eat away any gains they do make. Further, this debt tends to stem less from big purchases like houses (in fact, far fewer people born in the '80s are homeowners at all) and more from student loans, auto loans and credit cards.

One point of optimism, though, was that those born in the '80s are still relatively young and tend to be well-educated. They have many years to get on track, and generally have the education required to do so.