Gen Xer more cynic than slacker

By Linda Stern

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Gen Xers get a bad rap. They're often portrayed as slackers and runaway spenders who don't know how to work or save.

Not so, says new research sponsored by Charles Schwab Corp., one of several financial services companies trying to draw a bead on this age 27-to-42 demographic. Today's 30-somethings are hard workers who have more bills than cash. They also have a healthy distrust of the very financial services industry that wants their cash. Perhaps for good reason.

"They aren't being well served," says Jonathan Craig, who's heading up Schwab's effort to capture Gen X clients.

The new 30-somethings do face some challenges that others didn't. They're making less than their parents were at the same age. According to U.S. Census estimates, the median income for men between 25 and 34 in 2005 was $31,161. In 1975, adjusted for inflation, it was $35,296. The comparable data for female workers was $22,815 in 2005 and $16,247 in 1975.

And, they have much bigger bills. It's not just the school loans, it's the generally bigger lifestyle that hurts their bottom line. Think about the computer, cell phone, broadband service and more that are a necessary part of life now.

Gen Xers have some unique strengths, too. They are technologically savvy and unafraid to put their finances online or talk about their financial problems and solutions, says Marc Hedlund of Wesabe (http://www.wesabe.com), a social networking/financial planning Web site that is attracting users in their 20s and 30s. And they have that vaunted cynicism to keep them from trusting strangers -- or employers -- with their money too easily. Most are wise to not count on retirement benefits that are loosely promised to be there decades into the future.

So, too little money, too many expenses, nobody to trust.

What's a savvy 30-something to do with that scenario? Here are some tips.