Part of growing up is realizing that some stories you were told as a kid aren’t real. Fairies typically lose traction by age seven, unicorns turn to fabled legends, and Santa is eventually revealed to be a fraud (apologies to our readers if any of the above is news). But the truth for some things don’t come to light until you’re older—at least for Gen Z and millennials, who are increasingly feeling like the American Dream that was sold to them is also fictitious.
Nearly three-quarters (74%) of millennials and 65% of Gen Zers believe they’re “starting further behind financially” than other generations when they were their age, according to a poll of 2,000 adults conducted for USA Today by the Harris Poll. Mostly everyone else agrees; two-thirds of those surveyed thought young adults are facing hardships that other generations didn’t have to tackle. If the American Dream was ever a reality for some, it’s certainly not one that millennials and Gen Z feels they've experienced.
