Millennials, aged 26-41, are at prime ages for economic activity, including homeownership, saving for retirement, and other major financial undertakings. Having experienced the Great Recession at ages 12-27, millennials faced negative economic impacts in various ways—some through the impact on their parents; some through the difficulty of obtaining entry-level employment during the slow recovery; and some through foreclosure, negative equity, and payments in arrears on their own homes. This economic event may have substantially impacted their willingness to take on financial risk, especially as it pertains to borrowing. It also may have impacted the cohort’s optimism about the state of the economy. Research has shown that economic optimism is closely related to consumer confidence;  consumer confidence, in turn, is a key determinant of economic performance (Islam & Mumtaz, 2016; Mazurek & Mielcova, 2017; Sorić, 2018). Using the 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances, this study explored how the key indicators of economic outlook, financial risk-taking attitudes, and perceptions about borrowing differed among the three largest adult cohorts. Specifically, “millennials”, those born between 1981 and 1996, were compared with older generations— “Generation X” (GenXers), born between 1965 and 1980 and “baby boomers”, born between 1946 and 1964.

Accepted Oral Presentation