Money: Tackling The Generation Z Conundrum
Generation Z are people currently between the ages of ten to twenty-seven years. The marketing industry places labels like these for socio-economic and demographic delineations. Yet, despite these labels everyone passes through the post-adolescence phase of maturation as they prepare to take on the economic order of their world. Things like technology may be fashionable in the 21st Century, certainly we all had our fads in ur time and coming generations will also have their own influencers. It is important to understand that further reference to Gen Z will imply our common dispositions about that age range. We may eye the unique characteristics such as the dynamics of technological transformation presented by the 21st Century but these are for references only.
The people at the top of the Gen Z age bracket are entering the workplace at this time and many are already distinguishing themselves as leaders that can be prepared to run the world. Those under the age of 14 still get their personal expression of independence subject to parental influence, yet they are forming clear views of their decision paths in the future. They form a great group to get a few basic life lessons in place before they disappear to college and from college to their workplaces where life completely subsumes them. Pragmatically, it may be too late to begin teaching the life lessons once they have their careers in gear. Those lessons should have already become genetic in their environmental perspective by this time. Whatever tools that they own by this time determines their handling of life issues.
The economic climate of the 21 Century is polluted by the COVID 19 pandemic, and the increasingly severe effects of climate change. The projection is that Gen Z may expect nearly 2% average annual real returns on their investment portfolios. By comparison, the immediate generations before them, Baby Boomers and millennials enjoyed real returns of more than 5% with all the challenges. Therefore, Gen Z’ers must focus on saving more and investing for the long-term by acquiring the knowledge of and taking advantage of specific financial instruments that confirm sure gains over time.
Age-specific Money Problems
The primary age-specific money problem for 20-year-olds joining the workforce is procrastination. The “i-still-have-time” syndrome. I speak to many Gen Z’ers particularly about career advancement, and you can see that they revel and want to revel in the euphoria of obtaining independence from mandatory instructions and their now-truly newfound freedoms. Real freedom not promised or potential, but real power to make their own decisions and this distracts them from believing that the future is seriously close by. Asking a 25-year-old to start planning for an event 30-years later in their life is always a challenging counsel to give. Yet, this crossroad determines the future wealth status of everyone irrespective of current social status. Yes, people may win jackpot and the like but those cannot be planned. They are not deliberate. Your wages and/or promised gold pot of inheritance are the only sources that you can plan on.
For example, the age-specific 21st Century economic returns on investments challenge information is out there and accessible to anyone who cares to confirm it. However, age-specific distractions will not encourage the concerned individuals who should be taking action to manage at this time even consider that the relevance of such information to them. This is the difference between the prepared Gen Z and one that has no one to guide them. Professors teach us to understand economic indices and numbers for business management; grandmothers teach us that those indices equally affect human beings and protect their children by making sure that they learn to apply the numbers to their personal lives.
Wealth Creation and Sustenance Require Education
Every group had their adolescence to post-adolescence maturation issues; from being dependent on parents to the freedom of personal responsibility and running the world in general. A new air of realization that you now must hold the baton or take the driver’s seat. When you compound that with the mother’s fear of finally needing to lose the grip, then you understand the cause of so much anxiety and hula baloo. Gen Z’ers find themselves in the crosshairs of this social transformation in the 21st Century. Every one of them that I talked to wants to be wealthy, and they believe that they have the gifts or learned skills that can be exploited to achieve wealth. But it ends there.
Most of them lack the weapons to reverse the financial predictions for their future. They are not even considering the glaring indices because no one has told them what to look out for. Since, professors will not do this, parents who care must ensure that their children optimize their potentials. Even so, the parents themselves need to know what to teach. Do you know what message to pass on, or do you need to get some education yourself? How are you preparing your children for their future? We may be able to help, ask us!
