How Gen Z spends, saves, and invests
A look at young adults financial habits, in partnership with Visible Ventures.
So much of our discourse about Gen Z’s spending, saving, and investing habits leaves them out of the conversation, operating on assumption, rather than informed research that centers their perspectives.
To change that narrative, I teamed up with Visible Ventures – an early-stage focused venture fund focused on closing opportunity gaps.
We held a series of qualitative listening sessions to hear from young people about how they spend, save, and invest. Between these listening sessions and additional pulse checks, we reviewed feedback from more than 50 young adults under 30 in 13 states and Washington D.C.
The group included undergraduate students, MBA candidates, and early career professionals across a range of industries: consultants, sales associates, engineers, teachers, retail employees, and those in construction. Some are unemployed.
Overall, the group makes between $22,000 and $160,000 annually.
Nearly ⅔ invest in some capacity.
Beyond baseline questions about this cohort’s current personal finances, we looked into their visions for the future. And, given that young men and women currently have very different world views ahead of a massive generational wealth transfer into the arms of women, we sought out to examine how the generational gender gap is playing out in consumer habits, discretionary spending, and financial planning.
Here’s what we found:
The FOMO effect is real, and discretionary spending is shaped by social pressure
Influencers aren’t the only ones shaping how Gen Z spends. Real life relationships and a fear of missing out have a massive impact on their habits too.
Thanks to social media, Covid-19, and the loneliness epidemic that’s come as a result, young people are craving in-person experiences. And they’re willing to spend to be a part of the culture.
Jalen, who’s 25 and lives in Virginia, said the number one thing shaping how he spends his money is:
“FOMO.”
We’ve seen this with the bachelorette industrial complex, but for even younger Gen Zers, this can mean trips to Sephora, sporting events, and concerts (many of the young people I spoke to for these listening sessions were festival goers… think: Coachella, Bonnaroo, and lesser known names like Movement or North Coast).
Among those we spoke to, there was a general consensus that often they’d rather save, but spend to be a part of the culture.
“My spending habits are shaped most immediately by my peers. Especially when it comes to things like eating out or buying tickets for something. Or going on a trip with my friends. I guess it’s like FOMO or wanting to participate in things with my friends that make me spend the most,” said Selah, who’s 19, and lives in Philadelphia.
But it also goes both ways. Friends can impact what young people choose to save on, too:
“The way people around me cut back on spending are also ways that I reflect on the things that I’ll do to practice the same behaviors or pick up skills,” she said.
The takeaway: Gen Z’s money habits are aspirational and often rooted in relationships. They spend to build connections, but they’re also willing to save and invest — especially when they see their friends doing the same.
The quieter side of the gender gap is the price tag of a relationship
For young adults in relationships, money is often an open conversation and many see financial relief from having two incomes to lean on. But for others, particularly young men, relationships are seen as a financial weight. Some said they felt pressure to be financially secure before committing seriously.
A 23-year-old young man from Boston said that’s part of why he doesn’t want to be in a relationship:
"It's such a financial burden. I think my past experiences have kind of gone a little poorly, where I kind of have this sour taste in my mouth. I'm not at the point in my life, I'd say, where I can provide for someone,” he said. “You go out to dinner, you're expected to pay. And sometimes you're going out way too much."
A 26-year-old young man, also from Boston, said:
"It's kind of caused me to strictly focus on where I want to be in my own career and having high aspirations and high ambition for that, rather than spending time thinking that I could provide for somebody or be in a serious relationship right now. Whether that's the right way to look at it or not.”
Meanwhile a 24-year-old Bostonian said he’s just looking for love:
“I wouldn’t say there’s a financial component to being in a relationship that I think about when I think about why I want to be in a relationship. It’s not about saving money. It’s more about personal and emotional and physical fulfillment.”
The takeaway: There’s a quieter side to the gender gap, and it’s financial. For many young men, the pressure to be financially secure is dictating if and when they feel ready for serious relationships.
Saving is not always possible amid economic headwinds
Economic uncertainty is compounded by national division and global geopolitical headwinds. I constantly hear from young people that they’re just trying to survive, not thrive — and that was true in these listening sessions as well.
This spring’s Harvard IOP poll found that 42% of young adults are struggling financially. And according to the young people we spoke to for this project, that makes it difficult to save.
Instead of putting money aside for the future, they’re just trying to get by — often living paycheck to paycheck, while spending solely for short-term pleasure rather than investing in longer-term solutions.
📌 ICYMI, read my piece on ‘The Feel-Good Economy.’
Meanwhile, this generation is driven by purpose. Young people in our listening sessions told us that it’s frustrating to not be in the driver’s seat of their own lives, working jobs that bring little to no fulfillment just to make ends meet, when they would rather have autonomy over their life and work, capitalizing on their passion to reach their full potential.
“There’s definitely some frustration with work. I’m kind of in a job that I'm transitioning out of that makes me feel like I'm working at Lumon Industries, for those of you who watched Severance. Just like clocking in, being a cog in the system… sometimes feeling like you're not even clocking out,” said a 24-year-old tech sales associate in Boston, MA. “Hopefully, I’m getting into a position where I feel like I have more agency, more control. Maybe we'll call it a destiny, or maybe we'll call it a future, financially and just professionally,” he said.
I wrote earlier this week about how Gen Z is redefining the American Dream. When asked about their goals for the future, respondents said they’re not trying to be billionaires… or even millionaires. Family was the most important traditional marker of success mentioned. For most, a home would be nice, though they said that feels out of reach. Most often, they aspire toward having enough money saved to spend on school for their kids, in case of an emergency, and a little extra for a yearly vacation.
On what success means to her, Kennedy, who’s 20 and from Columbus, Ohio, said:
“Being able to not live paycheck to paycheck, being able to at least save a little bit, doesn’t have to be a lot. Being able to save and hopefully eventually getting back to the generational wealth days. Being able to attain a house… not having to think about student loans.”
And a 27-year-old teacher in Boston said:
“If I had infinite money to do anything, I would spend it on travel.”
The takeaway: In a feel-good economy built on short-term survival, Gen Z is dreaming of stability, autonomy, and just enough to live a life that feels like their own.
From finfluencers to Roth IRAs, the investing gender gap is closing
It’s no secret that Gen Z wishes they had more financial literacy, and the majority of young people we spoke to said they wish they had more finance or tax focused classes required in high school and college. But, despite a perception that investing is male dominated even for Gen Z, we found that in our research, women aren’t far behind.
Overall, more than ⅔ of the young people we spoke to (across genders) invest in some capacity, most commonly with a Roth IRA.
As you may expect, many (especially the young men) learned to invest from their parents (i.e. dads). But others are bullish on the power of finfluencers, like Dave Ramsey (whose name was mentioned a number of times).
The young people we spoke to are using a range of tools, platforms, and software to help them with their finances from legacy services like those offered by Fidelity and Charles Schwab to software like Quicken or Acorns and apps like Rocket Money or Alinea (a Gen Z-focused wealth management app that Visible Ventures recently backed).
Young women were quick to point to platforms like Ellevest, Her First 100K, or initiatives like “Girls Who Invest” as proof that investing is no longer just a boys’ club — and that the conversation is finally shifting in their direction – even if frat culture is still dominated by day trading on Robinhood and conversations about cryptocurrency.
A 21-year old young woman from Cincinnati summed it up like this:
“From a young age, I always perceived money as something I would associate with men in suits in big buildings. And so I always had [thought] the girls don't really make their own money. Girls don't have to worry about money. Until I became someone with a job, and I was like, having money is mobility, and it's good to want to work for yourself. I mean, there's like, the girl boss mentality, but I don't really think everybody's telling women: go make money, go get a job, go make lots of money. It's not really the same."
The takeaway: Gen Z isn’t waiting to be taught about money — they’re learning on their own terms, and young women are leading the charge to make investing more inclusive.
Calling all 2025 grads 🎓
I’m wrapping up my Reality Check in with 2025 grads, college and high school. If you’re a 2025 graduate and have yet to weigh in, please do so! And If you’re not a 2025 grad but know someone who is (👋🏻 hi teachers, professors, and parents), please share this with the grads in your life.
Thank you 🙏🏻
🔗 2025 college grad reality check click here
🔗 2025 high school grad reality check click here
Noteworthy reads
Democrats set out to study young men. Here are their findings., Elena Schneider for POLITICO
Match Group CEO says Gen Z is different and he’s making drastic changes to Tinder to keep up, Sydney Lake for FORTUNE
How the Gen Z Takeover Is Changing the NBA, Logan Murdock for The Ringer