The Exchange

What’s Trending Today in Finance and Business: Wealth and Economic Mobility

The Exchange

Today's roundup of what's trending in business and finance features a fascinating new study from the Pew Economic Mobility Project -- new data suggest that most Americans today make more money than their parents did at the same age (all figures are adjusted for inflation). Great, right? Not exactly. At the same time, we are not as rich and have less economic mobility. Bummer.

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How is this possible? Simply making more money than your parents is not always enough to move up the economic ladder or rise above the poverty level. Also, those on the top and the bottom are even less likely to have this economic mobility -- a phenomenon called "stickiness at the ends."

"It calls into question the quality of the opportunity Americans believe exists in the United States," said Erin Currier, project manager of the Pew Economic Mobility Project. If you want to really become upwardly mobile, having a second earner in the household helps. Also, get a college degree. (Unless you're into the college is a waste of time thing that keeps coming up. Then maybe that part's not for you.)

In other trending news around the web:


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