Kerry Hannon

So there was this sense of like, what are these?

How do we manage this?

And how do we do our own retirement savings?

Many people, including myself, actually after five years cashed out a 401k plan because nobody told us not to.

Like there just wasn't the financial education that's out there today.

So I think that is the number one concern.

stumbling block.

And if you look at the statistics, the average Gen Xer didn't start saving for retirement until age 31.

When you look at millennials, it's more like 24.

And Gen Z, even younger because of the... Today, we have these wonderful things called auto-enrollment in these 401k plans and auto-escalation.

This didn't exist back then.

I don't know.

I am hopeful.

I don't think it's too late.

And I think what my co-author Jenna Herron and I write in this book is sort of, hey, you got this, kids.

I mean, this is the thing about Gen X. This is this scrappy, resilient generation that rode bikes without helmets and drank water out of the hose and, you know, ate Pop-Tarts.

We were just cool.

And the thing is, we've been very resilient, latchkey kids.

We know how to get it done.

So it's a matter of focus and getting it done, because Gen X was also hit pretty hard by some of the economic realities and setbacks over their careers.