According to E-Trade, 6 out of 10 young investors citestudent loan debt as the first or second largest obstacle to savingfor retirement. (Photo: Shutterstock)

According to E-Trade's most recent edition of StreetWise, whichtracks experienced investors' quarterly activity, not only do sixout of 10 young investors cite student loan debt as the first or secondlargest obstacle to saving for retirement, that percentage has goneup nearly 20 percentage points over the past four years.

In addition, 60 percent of young investors say they've alreadymade an early withdrawal from retirement savings.

The top reason they give for doing so is student loan debt. But they still considerthemselves financially savvy, with 80 percent saying they've had“moderate to heavy exposure to personal finance and investing.”

As for college students, they just aren't ready to tackle theirfinances, with 47 percent saying they don't feel prepared to managetheir money, according to new research from EVERFI, sponsored byAIG.That's what they say is their biggest challenge—for the fourth yearin a row.

And while 60 percent have already taken out loans to financethose expensive educations, just 65 percent of borrowers areplanning to pay off those loans on time and in full.

It appears to be getting worse instead of better, too, with GenZstudents doing worse than students in general; Just 49 percent ofall students plan to follow a budget, down from 76 percent in 2012,while only 37 percent of GenZ students intend to budget. And whilejust 60 percent of all students plan to pay their credit card billon time, down from 85 percent in 2012, GenZers trail there too—atjust 47 percent.

It's taking a toll, too. Stress due to student loan debt isweighing people down. It's not as if they know how to deal with it,considering that only 35 percent of respondents reported havingever taken a personal finance course and only 11 percent of GenZstudents believe they even have the information they need to repaytheir college loans—that's compared with 22 percent of studentsoverall.

They do think that if they knew more, or had a plan, they'd dobetter:

• 58 percent said they could lower their stress level by making aplan to pay off those pesky loans
• 53 percent said lower stress would come if they had a betterunderstanding of loan repayment options
• 50 percent said having a better understanding of the totalamount they owe would help

READ MORE:

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Student loan debt harms retirement, saysAARP

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