The Great Divider: Student Loan Debt

Young (and not so young) Americans now labor under $1 trillion in student loan debt. As the Washington Post's Michelle Singletary writes, a good start in adult life now seems a privilege of the debt free:

The burden is so heavy that many households headed by young adults with student loans lag significantly behind their peers in wealth accumulation, according to an analysis by the Pew Research Center. The gap is wide. College-educated young adults with no education loans have about seven times the net worth ($64,700) than households carrying debt ($8,700).

Thirty-seven percent of households headed by an adult younger than 40 have some student debt — the highest share on record, Pew found.

Give a shout-out to parents and grandparents who dig deep to help students graduate debt free. And add a nod of appreciation to the wealth managers who help them do it.