PAPER NOT PLASTIC - MANY MILLENNIALS JUST SAY NO TO CREDIT CARDS

A whopping 63% of millennials - those between 18 and 29 - don't own a credit card,
according to a recent survey commissioned by Bankrate.  Another 23% have only
one card while only 6% have two.

The aversion to becoming overleveraged is especially acut for New York City young
people who face stratospheric prices for housing, high-than-average health care bills,
and numerous temptations (theater, fashion, nightlife, restaurants), which make it
extremely easy to tumble into the red. And debt, they have learned, is a quagmire
they prefer to avoid.

Millennials are both the best-educated generation in American history and one of the
poorest.  A 2011 Pew Research Center study concluded that households deaded by
adults younger than 35 has 68% less wealth then households headed by their
counterparts of the same age in 1984.

Statewide, the average debt of college graduates is $25,536, accoding to the Project
on Student Debt. 

With few prospects for future windfalls, millennials have learned from the mistakes of
the past and are actively questioning their own identities as consumer and global citizens.

Many have watched as their parents were/are burdened with debt and high interest
payments and have watched their parents get gulled into spending too freely.  Some
have learned very valuable lessons through their parents exposures and troubles.

However, the Bankrate survey also discovered that millennials who do have credit
cards aren't so great at paying their bille.  Only 40% managed to pay off their balances
in full each month, as opposed to 53% of audits age 30 and older.

These findings are distrubing because obtaining and using credit cards responsibly
is an imporatant path to established a good credit history.

To build good credit young people should obtain at least one "secured" credit card.
This usually works similarly to a debit card.  It is naive to think that you don't need
a credit card.  It is a good life skill to be able to manage credit and start building a
credit history. Prompt and timely payment on student loans are another critical way
to maintain a good credit rating.