The Institute for Family Studies recently published a study, The Millennial Success Sequence: Marriage, Kids, and the 'Success Sequence' Among Young Adults, revealing that millennials are much more likely to flourish financially if they follow the "success sequence": getting at least a high school degree, working full-time, and marrying before having any children, in that order.
Other key points include:
- While 55 percent of 28 to 34-year-old millennial parents had their first child before marriage, the vast majority of millennials who married before having any children are now steering clear of poverty and appear to be headed toward realizing the American dream. Additionally, 95 percent of millennials who married first are above the poverty line, compared to 72 percent who had children first.
- Even millennials from low-income families are more likely to flourish if they marry before having children: 71 percent who married before having children made it into the middle or higher end of the income distribution by the time they were between 28-34. By comparison, only 41 percent of millennials from lower-income families who had children before marriage made it into the middle or higher end of the distribution when they were between 28-34.
Click HERE to read the full study.