In April 2019, Merrill Lynch and Age Wave released the final report in their series on life stages, Early Adulthood: The Pursuit of Financial Independence. The new report, based on a survey of 2,700 early adults, finds that those between the ages of 18 and 35 are struggling to achieve financial independence, with many already having drawn on their retirement savings to pay off debt. And nearly three-fourths of early adults say they would benefit from more financial guidance – more so than those in any other life stage. These findings have important implications both for today’s older adults, the parents of these early adults, and for how society and financial institutions can better help adults across the life course plan and save for retirement.