Are the Kids Still All Right? Reassessing the Financial Health of Younger Americans

In this episode, Vadim revisits a question first explored three years ago: are younger American households actually struggling—or are the headlines missing the real story? Drawing from dv01’s latest research publication, Are the Kids Still All Right?, the discussion cuts through recession narratives to examine income growth, debt dynamics, education outcomes, housing constraints, and spending behavior across younger cohorts.

What emerges is a picture of resilience built on structural shifts in education, income, and financial discipline—paired with one increasingly binding constraint: housing supply.

Key topics discussed:

• Why income growth among Gen Z and Millennials is at multi-decade highs relative to the national average

• How student debt dynamics have fundamentally shifted—and why today’s student debt problem is largely a legacy issue

• The quiet but consequential transformation in higher education, away from for-profit and low-completion institutions

• Why younger households have reshaped spending patterns faster than any other age cohort

• How housing supply shortages have overtaken student debt as the primary barrier to household formation and wealth building

The episode concludes with a clear call to action: without a meaningful expansion in housing supply across price points, individual financial discipline alone won’t be enough to unlock the next stage of economic mobility.

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About the dv01 Podcast

dv01's In The Tranches of Structured Finance podcast explores macroeconomic trends, sector performance, and the future of capital markets. As a leading market intelligence company in structured credit, dv01 provides transparency and actionable insights through loan-level data and research.