I just read Michael Kitces’ blog post Why It’s a Bad Idea to Borrow Based on What the Lender Will Allow, and you should too. I am chuckling to myself because I am a perfect example of why this so.

It’s summer and I am currently looking forward to a week in Cape May. We love it there, especially my thirteen-year-old daughter who can just hop on her bike and enjoy all the freedom to roam about town just as I did as a kid back in Buffalo. My husband and I have recently been exploring the possibility of buying a small beach condo there. You know how wonderful that beach house fantasy can be: relaxing weekends with a glass of wine on the porch, the kids and future grandkids coming to visit, and of course long walks along the beach. We really thought we could do it.

No one could have foreseen the convergence of two of the most consequential economic events in our history – the mass migration of the Baby Boom generation into their final life stage and the tectonic shift of a declining global economy.  Unhinged stock market volatility, rising health care costs and historically low interest rates on savings have caused millions of pre-retirees to rethink their plans and their vision, especially as they consider the prospect of having to stretch their retirement income over 25 or 30 years.  As if that weren’t enough, now tens of thousands of retirees are finding that their only real safety net is threatened as a result of their decision to default on their student loans.

Chances are you’ve wondered about the prospects of younger Americans. Will they enjoy the same economic conditions that their parents lived through? Will retirement still be an option for them?

The NerdWallet organization recently issued a report which found a few differences between today’s college graduates and those of 20 to 40 years ago. For one thing, they carry a lot more student loan debt: $35,051 on average. That means, again on average, that the new graduates will be paying $4,239 a year for ten years before they can properly start saving. NerdWallet estimates that these higher loan payments could potentially reduce future retirement savings by 32%—an average of $700,000.