Gen Z's Idea Of A Smart Money Move Is Something Older Generations Often Considered A Failure
Folenial | ShutterstockMoving out used to be a step in a person's life that marked the end of their youth and dependence on their parents' money to bigger and better things. Now? Moving out is wishful thinking for most Gen Zers entering adulthood. It is actually considered financially smart for budding adult Gen Zers to stay at home for longer.
With inflation at an all-time high and a job market that is brutal, Gen Z is not as easily set up for financial success right when they turn 18 or even after college as previous generations. This is likely why many older generations would've considered living at home into adulthood a 'failure' when it's simply not the case today.
Gen Z is living with their parents as a smart money move, something older generations often considered a failure.
For a long time, people generally believed that there came a point where staying at your childhood home under your parents' roof was a failure to launch. Even in pop culture, there's always a titular character (usually male) that still "lives in his mother's basement," siphoning funds from their parent's bank account when they should be out seeking independence.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, "Moving out of the parental home, getting a job, tying the knot and having kids used to be the most common pathway to adulthood, with almost half of 25- to 34-year-olds having experienced all four milestones in 1975." However, "Nearly 50 years later, less than a quarter of U.S. adults this age had done the same."
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Even though an overwhelming majority (80%, in fact) had the opinion that moving out marked being an official adult, it appears that actually doing so is out of Gen Z's hands without significant financial help, saving money, and time to look for affordable housing and a well-paying job.
Gen Z's choice to live with their parents and save money is responsible more than anything.
It is actually financially responsible to be living at home as a Gen Zer. According to a study conducted by SpareFoot, Gen Zers feel like they need at least $10,000 to be able to leave home and be OK. 70% of Gen Zers have their sights set exceptionally high on savings targets thanks to rising housing costs, and, you guessed it, inflation.
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From these figures, leaving home feels like decimating one's own finances in pursuit of independence. In other words, the cost to move out is just too much of a price to pay for making it on your own. As writer Fatimah Bouri put it, "The sad truth is that this isn’t the 1960s where you can buy a cul-de-sac for three clams on an extremely humbling salary."
Gen Z is therefore reinventing the wheel of what success as a young adult means. When the economy does not want to cooperate with societal norms, who's to say we can't create our own?
Gen Z's success lies in planning for the future.
As was mentioned before, just because Gen Z adults are staying at home for longer doesn't mean that they're not doing anything to pass the time. In fact, the SpareFoot study noted, "2 in 3 young adults have delayed at least one life milestone." This is because they're doing what they can to boost their finances at a stable level before they pursue anything else. Sounds pretty successful to me.
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In general, Gen Zers are planning long-term for their futures, as evidenced by their growing savings when staying home. According to The Currency, "More than a quarter of young Americans say they've been able to pocket more than $1,000 a month while living with family — and 70% said they wouldn’t be where they are financially if they hadn’t."
The article detailed that Gen Z "tends to be more open when it comes to discussing money than previous generations." We are the loudest financial planners that talk about what we're doing with our money, sharing strategies, and conversing with others about our spending habits, which in turn helps to build upon financial knowledge and increase savings down the line.
Gen Z as a generation is not perfect by any means. However, they sure are proving themselves capable of adapting to an ever-changing world and of going against societal norms in favor of long-term financial goals. If you're a fellow Gen Zer, don't feel bad about staying home for longer and remind yourself that independence will come soon enough.
Luke Aliga is a writer with a degree in Technical Writing and Communication who covers relationships, culture, and human interest topics.
