5 Money Lessons You Can Learn From Gen Z

You may not like their taste in fashion, but zoomers have a few good financial skills up their sleeves

Perry Santanachote,

AARP

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Published October 16, 2025

a younger woman and older woman have a conversation while sitting on a bench

Liam Eisenberg

Key takeaways

Adopting financial apps can simplify saving, investing and managing debt.
Talk openly about money. Gen Z’s transparency about finances encourages healthier habits.
Consulting, teaching or creative gigs can boost your earnings and retirement savings — just like Gen Z’s side hustles.

As Generation Z strides into adulthood — career, marriage, kids — it continues to challenge the old-school ways of doing things. But Gen Zers have moved on from judging your acid wash jeans to side-eying your checkbook. They also have some valuable financial lessons to share with older generations.

Now aged roughly 13 to 28, they have financial realities that differ significantly from those of previous generations. “For boomers, personal finance was defined by an element of predictability,” says Kyla Scanlon, an economic commentator, educator and author of In This Economy? How Money & Markets Really Work. “The advice was simple-ish back then: Get a stable job, buy a house, save in your 401(k) and retire at 65. The system has changed a lot since then.”

For one thing, nearly 60 percent of workers had access to a defined-benefit pension in the 1980s, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. By 2022, that was down to about 20 percent.

For another, buying a home is no longer as achievable as it was, with home prices rising faster than incomes. The median home sale price in July was $416,900, about five times the median annual household income, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and Motio Research data.

“Gen Z has come of age in volatility,” says Scanlon. “They’ve never known a world without student debt, health care inflation and housing out of reach.”

Financial planners have long preached long-term certainty through a 60-40 stocks-and-bonds portfolio, but Scanlon says the younger set is all about liquidity and flexibility, mixing in cryptocurrency and meme stocks alongside more traditional investment vehicles.

“The general equation of ‘get a job plus buy a house plus save money plus retire’ is still the aspirational goal for most people, but the path to getting there has changed a lot,” Scanlon says. “What worked for boomers as a relatively straight line now looks more like a maze for Gen Z.”

Whether you’re well into retirement or preparing to enter that chapter of your life, here are five pages to borrow from Gen Z’s playbook for building financial stability in today’s topsy-turvy economy.

a person looks at graphs on a life size smartphone

Liam Eisenberg

1. Embrace technology

Technology has vastly expanded our ability to monitor our bank accounts and financial habits, making it easier to check credit scores, track spending patterns and utilize tools that help us understand, set and stick to financial goals.

“Younger adults tend to be more open to emerging financial technologies,” says Gerri Walsh, senior vice president of investor education at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), a self-regulatory nonprofit organization that regulates member brokerage firms and exchange markets.

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For instance, data from FINRA’s 2025 National Financial Capability Study shows that 94 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds use mobile banking, compared with 65 percent of those 55 and older.

“While individual needs vary, older Americans can benefit from exploring new products and services that may meet their financial needs,” Walsh says.

To start, Scanlon suggests downloading tools that automate money management. “Apps for auto-savings, micro-investing or debt payoff make personal finance less about willpower and more about default systems, which is something older generations could adopt to simplify their own finances,” she says.

Here are four to consider:

Acorns links to your debit or credit card, rounds up every purchase to the nearest dollar and invests the spare change. You can also set up recurring contributions to your Acorns investment account.
Stash makes investing approachable with built-in education.
Cash App is a bare-bones app, but its simplicity makes it a user-friendly, all-in-one financial tool that you can use for payment transfers, investing and banking.
Debt Payoff Planner lets you compare debt payoff strategies and see how extra payments could affect your payoff timeline and how much you’d save in interest.

2. Break the silence

Young people don’t shy away from discussing the nitty-gritty details of their lives, including their finances. For example, roughly 4 in 5 Gen Zers say it’s appropriate to discuss salary in the workplace, compared with only about 2 in 5 boomers, according to a 2023 survey by Skynova, an invoice template and bookkeeping provider for small businesses.

“We tend to treat money as this taboo topic, but the only way that younger generations are going to learn is if someone shows them the path,” says Scanlon. “Older Americans could benefit from Gen Z’s radical openness about money.”

By engaging in open conversations about money, she says, you might find yourself challenging outdated assumptions that you’ve held for decades.

If you want to jump on a social media trend, try “loud budgeting,” which involves being vocal and forthcoming about your financial goals and spending limits. Walsh says this is a helpful lesson for adults of any age. “It’s often a great idea to prioritize financial health over social pressures that can derail your financial goals,” she says.

Part of this entails setting boundaries and learning to be comfortable saying no to social activities that don’t align with your budget. For example, instead of making an excuse like “I’m busy tonight” to avoid an expensive dinner, you could say, “I’m skipping this because my credit card spending got out of control last month.”

Liam Eisenberg

3. Start a side hustle

Starting an extra gig can be a smart way to increase your income and earn more money that you can put toward your financial goals. In a July 2025 survey by Self, a credit building company, more than 4 in 5 Gen Z respondents reported having some kind of side hustle. Those ages 18 to 28 were earning an average of $269 per month from their side hustles — that’s more than $3,200 a year.

For older Americans, Scanlon says, experimenting with consulting, part-time teaching or creative work can be both financially beneficial and psychologically rewarding, indicating how Gen Z uses side hustles to build resilience.

Younger adults are also increasingly aware of the benefits of passive income, says Walsh. That’s money earned from sources outside of a traditional job, such as a rental property or dividend stocks. Establishing or increasing passive income can help older adults drum up extra cash for expenses and retirement savings.

4. Fend off fraud

Younger investors tend to worry more about investment fraud than their older counterparts do, according to FINRA data. While worrying may not be productive in itself, Walsh says that being aware of the warning signs of fraud and being prepared to respond can help protect you from losing money.

Be suspicious of unsolicited investment opportunities and anyone who guarantees that an investment will perform a certain way or promises a lofty return.

5. Redefine success

Gen Z measures success differently than older generations, says Scanlon. Many zoomers prioritize financial independence, debt-free living and work-life flexibility. “This reframing emphasizes security and control over one’s time, not just accumulation of assets,” she says.

Adopting a less-is-more mentality means being more intentional about your spending, whether that’s shopping secondhand (a 2024 Harris poll found that 63 percent of Gen Zers say they have purchased clothing and accessories secondhand, versus 47 percent of all U.S. adults), going on a “money diet” (a financial reset to eliminate unnecessary expenses) or opting for a memorable experience instead of the latest smartphone.

The key takeaways were created with the assistance of generative AI. An AARP editor reviewed and refined the content for accuracy and clarity.

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Perry Santanachote is a Denver-based freelance writer whose work has appeared in Consumer Reports, Good Housekeeping, Serious Eats and other publications.