Should Twentysomethings Worry?

Sarah: Well, first point—the bars I'm hanging out at, they're not exactly the ones that are offering bottle service, so I think I'm OK in that regard. But more seriously, you're right to bring up the Social Security thing—that's definitely frightening. But its not just the financial crisis that should have us worried about Social Security; there have been plenty of reasons to worry for decades! Ever since I got a full-time job, I've operated in the mindset that I'll most likely need to rely on myself for my retirement, and have saved in accordance with that. I know there's not much of a silver lining in a financial crisis, but maybe—and I might be too optimistic here—this could be a good wake up call to Millennials. After all, we're not verging on retirement. We still have decades to get our finances in order. I'd certainly rather be going through this at my age than at my parents'.

Kurt: Hey! We hang out at the same bars. But while we're talking about the bright side of all this—aren't you feeling sort of vindicated that you never took the investment banking track? Actually, what if they hire one of these former Lehman employees to cover finance for NEWSWEEK—maybe we should be worrying about our own jobs? I'm half-joking here, but one of my bosses did subtly remind me that many magazines rely on financial-service advertising for revenue. Another reason this whole thing is bad news, even for us journalists.

Sarah: I think there's a lot more things that have me worried about my job than the ad pages that we're losing from the big banks—the declining stocks of most major print publications, for example. But I definitely do agree with you on being very happy to have not taken the investment-banking track. But I think that speaks to my point. I don't feel affected by this, because I'm not losing my job, I'm not writing cover letters, I'm still going to the NEWSWEEK office every day.

Kurt: That's what you say now.

Sarah: The only friends I know who are seriously worrying about this are the ones who work in the finance industry—and see their jobs actually being on the line. And even they're not freaking out—my roommate who works at JPMorgan doesn't seem the least bit fazed. Are we being ignorant? I really don't think so, I just don't know what an individual citizen, our age or older, is supposed to do except really keep an eye on their finances.

Kurt: Forgive me if I screw up this statistic, but those who worked at the major banks had control of nearly 5 percent of America's money before this whole collapse. So, yes, I do think we're all being ignorant if we ignore other people's money—and not just our own—and let this continually slide out of control. Neither of us was alive in the 1930s, thank God, but there have already been reports of tent cities, rising commodity prices, even hookers getting less in tips. Go ahead and buy an iPod, but don't say this has no bearing on your life. That's just negligent.