Gen Z just wants life to be nice

The stakes couldn’t be worse for Gen Z. With the rising power of Gen Alpha, they’re no longer the doted-on youngest generation, and with that unwanted maturity, they’ve inherited all the murderous financial prospects that millennials once dealt with. Instead of getting accused of spending all their money on avocado toast, financial websites will have you believe that Gen Z’s penchant for oat lattes has killed cursive, side parts, happy hours, the housing market, and also — supposedly — the wedding.

So how does Gen Z do money, especially as the weight of “big life goals” comes to rest on their shoulders? For all that they aren’t spending money on traditional adulthood money things, it’s not as if they’re saving, either. Rosie Nolan, 25, said having a nest egg feels just as precarious as spending one. “Neither [my partner or I] have any savings for a future wedding. We’re both sitting on some cash for grad school, and my partner has some savings intended for moving out of her parents’ home,” she said. Most of their money goes toward meals and other day-to-day spending. While they’ve not been dating long enough to talk about pooling their finances, they do talk about their individual approaches a lot. “Our money-management styles are very different. She always wants to pay me back and split the check when we eat out together, but I’m more of the 'I got you this time, you get me back next time' kind of person,” Nolan said.

Gen Z couples think about money as a question of wellness and holistic happiness. Rather than earmarking funds for “House?” or “Wedding?,” many members of Gen Z — especially those in relationships — find themselves instead considering what lifelong plans might constitute a worthwhile future together, and what those plans might cost.

“My goal in general is to be happy and healthy and to have a nice life despite The Horrors, and ‘a nice life’ in my view does include consumption, so I want to always have enough money to Have A Nice Life,” said Charlotte Freccia, 27. She and her partner, Brady, live together in a rented unit, and while they don’t pool their savings, much of their financial life revolves around supporting each other. 

“Personally, I have not been able to save very much at all in the last three years,” Freccia said, “ever since I moved to a high-cost-of-living area on a low salary, and Brady is also working on saving more aggressively, so I would say that our priority is to build out our respective accounts a bit before discussing a combination.”

Neither Nolan nor Freccia nor Kevin Chan, who is 24, think much about the future of their finances. “Everyone I know is focused on their job right now,” Chan said. It’s hard to imagine a future when the world feels so otherwise unpredictable. “Like many in my generation, I feel ambivalent and sort of at a loss when it comes to financial goal setting. I used to care a lot about becoming a homeowner one day, but that is becoming much less important to me,” Freccia said.

That type of generational ennui isn’t necessarily limited to Gen Z, and regardless of what uncertainties lie ahead, having a healthy amount of savings is never a bad thing. Financial adviser Elizabeth Schleifer, who is 30 (a Zillennial) feels sympathetic and eager to help her generational peers with their financial frustrations. 

“A lot of forces are working against us. We have higher prices (for both big and regular expenses), more pressure to spend from places like social media, so it can feel discouraging to think about how to accomplish goals like buying a house or paying for a wedding,” she said. “Since we can’t control prices, the best thing we can do for ourselves is to focus on what we can afford and how to maximize that. I’d say the starting point would be having a budget. Before you can save for bigger expenses, you need to know what you spend on little stuff.”

Freccia had said something similar in our conversation about the weight of everyday expenses taking up a lot of what little she’d saved. “I feel like cultivating ‘good taste’ in food, clothing, culture, etc., requires a significant amount of cash in a way that it maybe didn’t 30 years ago. Food in particular — nice foods, like organic vegetables, but also just regular old store-brand cereal, yogurt, frozen fruit — just feels so expensive.” 

Saving for everyday expenses isn’t not budgeting in its own right. What Schleifer said Gen Z ought to focus on — whether they’re dating or not, or planning to get married or not, or buying a house, or anything — is saving and budgeting so that they can achieve what Freccia called a “nice life.” “Prioritizing financial goals requires a careful assessment of options and personal values. Whether it’s investing in education, homeownership, weddings, or retirement, understanding the trade-offs and aligning spending with true priorities ensures a path toward financial security and fulfillment,” Schleifer told me. 

What Gen Z might have killed, if anything, is the belief that having the same life plans and goals as everyone in your generation and in previous generations is a worthwhile symbol of positive growth. Instead, members of Gen Z prioritize what they love most — even if it’s just oat lattes.

Fran Hoepfner is a writer in New York.