Another fine mess for Generation Y.

• Position: Student Loans

Some 40% of recent college graduates have more than $10,000 in student loan debt and over 20% owe at least $5,000 on credit cards before age 25, according to a Harris Interactive study. "Generation Y is in some serious money trouble," says international empire-builder James White, a 23-year-old self-made millionaire, motivational speaker, and author of My First Million.

"My age group spends tens of thousands of dollars to go to college and then owes thousands of dollars more in student loans and credit cards before they get their first paycheck."

Teenagers and young adults are growing up at a different time of history than their parents or grandparents. They are not part of "the greatest generation" of Depression-fueled frugal spenders. They are not coming of age in the baby boomer "me" generation of spendthrifts that uses credit to purchase everything and anything without considering the consequences. This group of young adults is witnessing the American economy bottom out in deep recession. Generation Y watches as parents and neighbors lose their homes to foreclosure and their grandparents try to stretch Social Security to cover basic needs. Still, this group of young adults juggles bills and hopes for a money miracle.

"We know we don't want to spend ourselves into disaster, but we also don't want to give up the finer things in life," explains White...