Stop Criticizing Millennials for Not Saving Enough

A recent Moody's analysis found that millennials have a savings rate of negative 2%, which, even for the math-challenged, doesn't sound good. That's triggered an onslaught of articles dumping on the under-35 set for its frivolous and irresponsible ways, writes Catherine Rampell (herself in that group) in the Washington Post. The criticism is total "bunk," she writes. Historically speaking, young adults always have lousy savings rates compared to older generations, thanks to an "unfortunate synchronicity" of two factors: They're early in their careers and thus not making big bucks, and they're hitting expensive milestones such as marriage, child-rearing, and home-buying.

What's more, previous generations weren't dealing with today's crazy student-debt problem. You can read the full post here, which suggests that millennials might yet end up being more frugal than finger-wagging boomers, but millennials can just salt away this line for the next time criticism comes: "If youth is wasted on the young, perhaps positive cash flow is wasted on the ­middle-aged." (More millennials stories.)