I'm a Millennial. Will I ever be able to retire?

Do Millennials and retirement mix?

As a Millennial, I guess that means I’m qualified to write this (or, at least ask the question). It seems a version of this headline pops up more and more frequently these days.

I’ll keep this post brief. The short answer is: no one knows for sure. After all, the oldest millennials aren’t even 40 years old yet. And, there are quite a few factors at play: higher college debt, income stagnation, reduced employer pensions and 401Ks, predicted lower future stock market returns, possibly reduced Social Security, longer life expectancy, etc.

Some millennials are guilty of lifestyle inflation (including me) and “keeping up with the Joneses.” Others have tried minimalism.

Of the millennials that are saving, are they saving to aggressively pay off student loan debt, saving to fund their lifestyles and buy experiences, or are they saving for retirement?

Like most things in life, the key is focusing on what’s in your control. There are ways to change the answer from “no one knows for sure” to “YES” (and not just retire, but retire early).

Some millennials have figured out the game of money

I’m going to highlight a few of them below. This post is really just a teaser for a future post series on the topic of FIRE: FIRE 101: What is FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early)?

Of all the millennial bloggers I’ve come across, I believe the youngest to retire is J.P. Livingston from The Money Habit. She retired at 28 years old with over $2 million (and in New York City of all places).

Here are some millennial personal finance and early retirement bloggers to get you started:

Have other favorite millennial personal finance bloggers? Please share them in the comments!