By many measures, millennials are doing considerably well financially. Still, fewer younger adults are thinking about retiring in the traditional sense one day.

“Retirement is becoming more deprioritized,” said Michael Liersch, head of advice and planning at Wells Fargo.

“Ten or 15 years ago that was always the number one goal,” he said. Now, “actually living one’s life in the moment is a bigger priority.”

Although this cohort is very focused on building wealth, “the end game might not be no longer working and sitting on my Adirondack chair,” he said. “That just might not be it.”

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More than one-third, or 37%, of Americans want a retirement that looks different from previous generations, according to a 2024 report from Edelman Financial Engines.

Most say that means a more active and adventurous lifestyle. And 32% say they will never be able to “fully” retire, the report found.

“This contrasts sharply with retirement stereotypes of the past, where stability and relaxation were the primary goals,” the report said.

Meanwhile, the median wealth of younger millennials and older Gen Zers — or those born in the 1990s — “more than quadrupled” in recent years, according to an analysis of 2022 data by the St. Louis Federal Reserve.

The number of millennials with seven-figure retirement balances also jumped 400% as of the third quarter of 2024, compared to a year earlier, according to data from Fidelity Investments prepared for CNBC.

Compared to other generations, millennials are also more likely to say that their income went up over the last few months and that they expect their earnings potential to increase again in the year ahead, another report by TransUnion found.

Collectively, millennials are now worth about $15.95 trillion, up from $3.94 trillion five years earlier, according to the most recent Federal Reserve data as of the third quarter of 2024.

But a lot has changed for younger generations, too, said Brett House, an economics professor at Columbia Business School.

What assets millennials have on hand and their relative financial stability “is determined by how they shape up against immediate needs — such as housing down payments or emergency medical payments — and their capacity to generate income to replace salaries and wages in retirement amidst the shift from defined benefit to defined contribution pensions, or the elimination of workplace pensions all together,” House said.

Most younger adults are no longer getting pensions of any kind, so individuals who enter retirement age are now more dependent on personal savings and Social Security, he said.

“There are a lot of financial priorities that we are all trying to reach simultaneously,” said Sophia Bera Daigle, founder and CEO of Gen Y Planning, a financial planning firm for millennials.

Many millennials must contend with hefty student loan balances, mortgages, car payments and child care costs in addition to saving for retirement or future college costs, she said.

“People are really feeling the cash crunch in their 30s to 40s,” said Bera Daigle, a certified financial planner and a member of CNBC’s Advisor Council. “Their net worth is going up but they don’t feel like they are getting ahead.”

That has also contributed to changing views on retirement for millennials, she said.

“When I got into this business, retirement was about quitting the grind … playing golf,” Bera Daigle said.

Now, “it’s really more about flexibility,” she added. “We don’t know what retirement will look like in 20 years… there’s a lot more emphasis on choosing the work they want to do in their 60s.”

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Former President Joe Biden forgave more student debt than any other president. However, the country’s education debt tab still grew during his presidency.

Outstanding federal student debt stood at roughly $1.64 trillion toward the end of 2024, according to U.S. Department of Education data analyzed by higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz. That compares to around $1.59 trillion at the start of 2021.

“Total student loan debt went up while President Biden was in office, despite all of the student loan forgiveness,” Kantrowitz said.

While Biden was in the White House, he canceled student debt for 5.3 million borrowers, for a total of $188.8 billion in relief.

While these numbers don’t account for inflation, they still show how difficult it is to make a meaningful debt in the country’s student loan balance, experts said.

There were roughly the same number of people with student debt — 42 million — both when Biden entered and exited office, according to Kantrowitz’s calculations.

Betsy Mayotte, president of The Institute of Student Loan Advisors, a nonprofit that helps borrowers navigate the repayment of their debt, said it didn’t surprise her that the country’s loan balance still climbed.

“We’re going to continue to see that until we solve the root cause of the student loan crisis,” Mayotte said. “And the root cause is the cost of higher education.”

Before financial aid, the sticker price at some four-year colleges and universities — after factoring in tuition, fees, room and board, books and other expenses — is now nearing $100,000 per year.

For undergraduate students in the 2024-25 academic year, the estimated expenses for tuition, fees, housing and food at a public four-year in-state college is $24,920, and $58,600 at a private, nonprofit four-year college, according to CollegeBoard.

“New borrowing outpaces repayment,” Kantrowitz said. Indeed, over $300 billion in new federal loans were taken out while Biden was president, Kantrowitz calculated.

Another reason student debt didn’t drop under Biden was the Covid-era pause on federal student loan payments, which spanned from March 2020 to Sept. 2023, Mayotte said.

“We went three and half years where the vast majority of borrowers weren’t paying,” she said.

This tax season, the IRS expects more than 140 million individual returns — and many filers could miss a credit worth thousands of dollars. 

The earned income tax credit, or EITC, is a tax break for low- to moderate-income workers. In 2023, eligible taxpayers received an average credit of $2,743, according to the IRS.

“Every year, millions of households receive the EITC,” former IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel told reporters in early January. But “nearly one in five eligible taxpayers don’t claim this valuable credit because they don’t know about it or don’t realize they qualify.”

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For 2024, the EITC is worth up to $7,830 for families with three or more children, up from $7,430 in 2023, according to the IRS. Eligible workers, between the ages of 25 and 64, without kids can claim up to $632 for 2024. 

By law, the IRS can’t issue EITC refunds before mid-February, according to the agency. However, most early tax filers will see a status update in the “Where’s My Refund?” portal by Feb. 22. Refunds should arrive by March 3 if you chose direct deposit and there are no issues with your tax return. 

These limits use adjusted gross income, which is your total income after subtracting pretax 401(k) plan contributions and “adjustments,” such as certain pretax individual retirement account contributions, student loan interest and educator expenses.  

Other EITC requirements include:

• Your investment income can’t be above $11,600
• You must be a U.S. citizen or resident alien all year
• You need a valid Social Security number for you, your spouse (for joint returns) and qualifying children 
• You must file a tax return

Some eligible taxpayers missing the EITC could be lower earners without a filing requirement, Nassau said. But the EITC is “refundable,” meaning you can still claim a refund even without tax liability.

You can use the IRS’ EITC assistant to see if you qualify.

If eligible, you can file for free using IRS Direct File, IRS Free File, Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) and others.