It’s hard to imagine, but Americans who are part of Generation X are already become mothers, fathers, businessmen, educators, and other professionals. We remember them as a culture of apathetic and generally disaffected youth. It was the first generation to witness the phenomenon that is MTV, and the only generation to see MTV with actual music videos on it. Generation X’ers are now anywhere from 30 to 45 years old with homes, families, and jobs of their own. They’ve grown up and become responsible for the most part, but one area that Generation X as a whole is not doing so well is money. In fact, Generation X is ridden with debt!

The New York Post recently ran a story about this topic and they found that 1/3rd of people who are apart of Generation X are literally so deep in debt that they will likely never get out and have some form of debt for the rest of their lives. They also found that 20% of them are depressed over the financial obligations that they have!

A lot of this debt is because of student loans which is no surprised as tuition increases well above the rate of inflation each year, but a lot of it is just because of the lifestyle that they live. Parents of Generation X children were looking to “Keep up with the Joneses” and now their children are doing the same. They always want to make sure they have just as nice stuff if not better than their friends and neighbors. The dirty little secret is that most people with nice things are financed up to their eyeballs to pay for it.

Another cause could be that it’s a lot easier to get into debt than it used to be. Previously individuals had to put a significant amount of money down to purchase a home, and in the last few years anyone who walked into a mortgage firm could get approved for a loan. Credit cards are also much more prevalent, in fact 6 billion credit card offers are sent out each year alone. There are also all sorts of new Web 2.0 services such as Prosper.com that would love to help you further get into debt. Consumer credit is available at rates never seen before and members of Generation X are using it!

If you’re a member of Generation X and have a significant amount of debt, take it as a wakeup call. Evaluate how much debt that you currently have and cut out some of the fat. If you have a vehicle or a lot of expensive things you simply cannot afford, sell them and reduce your debt level. Send some more of your paycheck to reduce down your debts every month and don’t accept the notion that you will always be in debt.