Gen Z is doing (almost) everything right with money—and still getting burned
It’s not so much fun to be young anymore. Just ask the parents of anyone in their twenties — Gen Zers — and you’re bound to hear how “kids today have it so much harder than we ever did.”
In many ways, that’s true.
Homes cost five times more than the median income, up from around three times back in the 1990s, according to Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. And the typical first-time homebuyer is 40 years old — up from 29 in the 1990s. On top of the roughly $20,000 the median borrower owes in student loans, members of Gen Z are carrying $500 more credit card debt than millennials did in their twenties. Young recent college graduates are seeing higher unemployment rates than the overall population, something that hasn’t happened for decades. And this is before AI fully shakes up the workplace as we know it.
Still, you have to hand it to Gen Zers. More so than previous generations, this cohort is trying hard to do the right thing with their money. They are good savers. This generation is socking away money at three times the rate young people did in the 1990s. Over that same time period, the number of young adults with retirement accounts has increased by 36%. They even invest more than young people before them. Ten years ago, only 8% of people in their early 20s had invested their money (not including 401(k) accounts). In 2025, that figure jumped to 40%, according to the JPMorgan Chase Institute.
They earn more. Today, people in their 20s and 30s earn a median income that’s 19% more than their counterparts in the 1990s.
College graduates still earn a premium. Despite the public handwringing about the value of higher ed, recent data have shown that median pay for young people with bachelor’s degrees is 59% higher than that of those who graduate from only high school. And a recent Gallup poll shows that 9 out of 10 college students say they’re confident or very confident that their education will equip them with the skills they need to get a job.
They are better protected against financial ruin. Health insurance is the best hedge against obliterating your savings, and Gen Z has that covered. In the late 1990s, nearly a quarter of people aged 21 to 40 went without insurance. Today, only 15% lack coverage.
Though these efforts are commendable, I am worried that Gen Z can’t discern the difference between good information and potentially biased, if not outright predatory, “advice.”
This is a generation that has been sold on the idea that savvy consumers buy now and pay later. A full 59% of Gen Zers say they use BNPL deals. The problem is that 57% of those Gen Z BNPL users have missed a payment as of early 2026, according to LendingTree. So a product masquerading as a smart, no-interest deal is actually costing them a whole lot of interest and additional fees.
And though frictionless finance like Tap to Pay is unbelievably easy to use at checkout, it also makes it easy to overspend and to forget the fact that credit cards are now charging an average of 22.3% interest — a near-record high. This group has embraced the highly volatile cryptocurrency markets. Roughly half of Gen Z in the U.S. reports owning or having owned cryptocurrency, versus half that number for people in their 50s and 60s. Gen Z has also feverishly adopted online gambling and prediction markets. A full 69% of 18- to 26-year-olds have participated in gambling per a NerdWallet survey, compared to 57% of baby boomers. What’s even more disturbing: A quarter of Gen Z and millennials consider online gambling an investment.
Overall, this generation has embraced FinTech, which offers seamless and efficient digital experiences. But using these tools doesn’t always result in the smartest money moves, especially when you’re trying to build a solid financial life. Of course, since 79% of young people get personal finance advice from social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok, they’re primed to expect quick wins and easy money. Instead, they should be seeking out straightforward, time-tested information that sets them up for long-term success.
By the way, I have delivered such no-nonsense financial guidance to young people for more than three decades. My book Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties is out this May, in a 30th anniversary edition updated for Gen Z.
We need to help Gen Zers by making sure they know how to separate what’s helpful from what’s hype.
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