On the bright side, Pew also notes that adults aged 18-29, with their long time horizons, “remain relatively upbeat about their financial future.” 72% of those surveyed also claim that they have not had trouble affording medical care for themselves or their family (perhaps because many are still covered by their parents or universities), and 69% deny losing money in retirement accounts such as 401(k)s, according to

Adults aged 25-44

While job losses have mounted for this age group, some researchers foresee plenty of time to recover. For instance:

The head of macroeconomics at PriceWaterhouseCooper, John Hawksworth says, “While no age group is fully immune from the adverse effects of the downturn, our analysis suggests that people in their mid-20s to late-40s will on average have relatively better financial prospects through the recession than younger or older generations.”

Adults at the older end of this threshold are still 10 years away from the well-known employer bias against hiring workers 45 and older, while those on the younger end have even more prime working years left when the economy improves. It is worth noting however that the recession has caused this age group to change its behavior markedly. Pew reports that “fully 60% of younger and middle-aged adults” claim to be doing more of their shopping at discount stores. This is compared to a much lower percentage of adults 65 and over who report discount shopping, as will be explored later.

Adults aged 45-60

The British website TheMoneyStop cites research from PriceWaterhouseCoopers claiming that adults aged 45-60 have been hit hardest. As noted earlier, these are adults nearing the twilight of their earning years and beginning to think about retirement. Elaborating on this point, TheMoneyStop notes

“Those aged 45 to 60 generally have a lot more money invested in pensions and retirement funds than younger people and therefore have a lot more to lose. Since they are coming to the end of their working life, they do not have a lot of time left in which they can wait for the values to start to recuperate and climb back up to the usual levels.”

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