Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X & Boomers Have Completely Different Ways Of Dealing With Tough Financial Times
Prostock-studio / Shutterstock The economy has gone through huge changes in recent years, many of which experts could never have predicted.
This means each generation grew up with different economic conditions that shaped how they think about money. Although they’re all living in the same economy now, they don’t handle tough financial times the same.
Gen Z, millennials, Gen X, and boomers all have their different ways of dealing with financially difficult times
People tend to think the economy has gotten worse over time, but that doesn’t mean people in older generations never worried about their finances before. Every generation has experienced personal and widespread struggles that shaped how they react in a crisis.
Boomers have saved a lot of money, which lets them face financial difficulties with less anxiety.
The baby boom had a big impact on the economy in addition to birth rates. This was really the first time that companies realized how important it was to start marketing their products to teens. Businesses still cater to boomers now because they’re such a big chunk of the population and fairly wealthy overall.
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Boomers are hard workers, and many were fortunate enough to spend most of their time in the workforce with conditions that rewarded them for their work ethic. Most of them have never really had to panic about money. Even when they needed to stick to a stricter budget, they still got by.
This generation has a very traditional approach to tough financial times. When they’re struggling, they dip into their substantial savings until things stabilize. They carry their responsible attitude into their finances and face any problems in what they think is the sensible way instead of losing their cool.
Gen X takes a pragmatic approach to tough financial times, as they do with everything else.
For Gen X, financial problems have been much more common. They were hit hard by the dotcom bust and the Great Recession, and have amassed less wealth and feel less confident about their chances of retiring as a result.
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Gen X is also fiercely independent, which they developed in childhood when they had to take care of themselves between the time they got home from school and the time their parents got home from work. This perspective shapes pretty much everything they do, including how they handle money.
Gen X has fallen on hard times more frequently than boomers, but they also don’t let it send them into a panic. They’re able to identify the problem and do what they can to fix it. Their response is always to take charge and face the issue head-on instead of just hoping for the best.
Millennials face financial challenges by giving up things they don’t need instead of trying to make their money stretch.
Life was going pretty well for millennials until they went through the Great Recession, which hit many of them right as they were trying to start their careers. The pandemic caused another recession that wiped out any security they felt like they achieved in the years between the two.
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Millennials are definitely not strangers to tough financial times, and they’ve come up with a unique way of dealing with them. Their solution is to put off the milestones everyone associates with adulthood, like buying a house and having kids.
Millennials have already been through hard times, and they don’t feel very optimistic about the future. This resigned attitude has taught them to go without. The things that previous generations considered non-negotiable aren’t necessary for them if they’re just going to make their lives harder.
Gen Z is doing anything they can to fight the money problems that they feel like they can’t escape.
The youngest of the adult generations probably feels like they got thrown into the real world at the worst possible time, and they aren’t completely wrong. Gen Z is facing an affordability crisis and a tough job market right when they’re trying to start living independently.
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To deal with this, they’re taking a similar approach to millennials by putting some things off. Many of them are actually still living at home to save money. They’re also taking on side hustles to supplement their income in larger numbers than previous generations.
Gen Z isn’t lazy or ignoring the reality they’re facing. They’re actually trying to handle it as responsibly as they can. But the world they live in has made financial survival mode their default instead of something they have to lean into every now and then.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
