@McDad @OHvol40 I tried to go back to see what exactly was the crisis, but didn't find a specific subject, so I am assuming its just the general financial settings for the younger generations: tl;dr
Its at least a borderline crisis. It isn't for me, but I was lucky. Not going to split hairs on where stuff is, but its a really bad situation, and then you have financially illiterate people trying to navigate it. I think the combo pushes it into crisis.
I think what pushes it into being a crisis is there is zero financial education out there. I consider myself extremely lucky I had a CPA as a dad who drilled saving money into my head. dumb stuff too, like getting a water while out to eat instead of a soda for $1.50, or getting a hamburger instead of a cheeseburger because it was a dollar less. Taking dates to matinee movies instead of after dark to save 2/3 bucks on the tickets. that type of stuff was drilled into me it became a lifestyle.
The cost of everything being so high, makes it extremely difficult to save up anything to "get ahead". heck even just to get started there is a higher bar. It took me more than a decade of saving with a professional job in order to buy a house. thats not historically "usual", and while it wasn't a crisis for me, most people my age were never taught a mindset of how to navigate this. There aren't enough jobs in low cost areas for people to move away from the expensive towns; and the boomer generation has been killing off work from home, so that flexibility (and cost savings) is not really feasible now.
the easy access, and almost cultural mindset, to debt is damning imo. forget student loans for a second. there is an App out there that lets you finance a burrito. no credit check, no income check, just lets you take out small loans. that type of predatory lending wasn't nearly as prevalent before. you aren't going to shady sam to loan you a 20, you just pull up your phone, something you know, and trust, and use every day, and boom, you have a loan. there are so many debt traps out there they are going to catch you.
a real personal finance class would go a long way to fixing the borderline-crisis. Teaching people that minimum payments on credit card debts are a disaster for their personal finances needs to be hammered into their heads. they need to be taught that unless it comes with major financial paperwork and checks, any debt you aren't paying off at the end of the month is a crisis waiting to happen.
the mindset/illiteracy combined with the situation that is a crisis. had the previous generation actually given my generation a firm understanding of things, it wouldn't be a crisis.