Gen Z are dipping into their retirements, skipping meals and selling their belongings just to get by, new reports find
https://fortune.com/2025/08/29/gen-z-dipping-into-retirements-skipping-meals-and-selling-their-belongings-just-to-get-by-new-reports-reveals/
Posted by Conscious-Quarter423
11 Comments
This is horrifying. I remember a few years ago when California raised the minimum wage to something like $14 or $15 dollars an hour. Fox News thought the world was going to end. It’s higher now, I think, yet still not enough. I can’t imagine how those in the southern states are making it.
“More surprisingly, withdrawals were not about splurging on the latest concert, they’re doing it to escape their looming debt.”
If only there were a connection between spending/saving habits and ability to pay for necessities…
Housing costs more for every generation, and more people from each generation achieve higher education, which comes with car loan-sized debt loads. It’s not surprising that in their early years, where good employment is hard to come by, debt is high, and housing costs an arm and a leg, they’re making sacrifices.
This country has an escalating cost of living problem, and more and more giveaways to seniors and current homeowners are not the solution, despite being the only things ever proposed.
That article is all over the map. “For Gen Z, the problem isn’t understanding money…”, but then it goes on to say Gen Z has more personal debt than other generations while also participating in 401ks more than any other generation, while also being the generation most likely to dip into those savings to pay for emergencies and…pay down that debt. I’d argue that if you’re contributing to a 401k while carrying a buttload of debt, only to pull money out of that 401k, with the hefty penalty to do so, to pay down your debt, you’re pretty damn financially illiterate.
I was jsut reading this or last week how big savers Gen Z is compared to the rest of us. My guess is they are over saving, and this is a correction. As an over saver myself, this still sucks for them.
https://www.payrollintegrations.com/employee-financial-wellness-report-2025
The actual report, rather than just the article.
I’m not familiar with this group or it’s methods but at first glance the general methodology seems unproblematic. I’d love to see a comparison across time series (IE, how many millennials withdrew from retirement when they were in their early 20s, etc) but overall the trend is both worrying and not surprising.
The economy is not the stock market or investment portfolios. It is billions of people buying their daily needs. The moment they cannot afford to do this it’s game over
I’m really curious what’s going to happen to boomers once they stop being able to care for themselves.
It’s only just starting to happen, and as they get older, they’re going to start losing the ability to live alone and that burden will fall on their children. Problem is, Gen X isn’t doing all that great financially, so how can they afford to take on the care of their parents?
This is all trickling down and eventually there’s going to be a breaking point. There used to be a time where generations made things better for those that come after them, but that randomly stopped around the 60’s or 70’s.
Trump’s America
Pepperidge Farm remembers when all the Neanderthals and luddites believed him when he said he’d bring prices down on day one – how fucking gullible and stupid do you have to be?
I am selling artwork and a book collection. I am only purchasing food, no new clothing, shoes, coats. No restaurants, no travel, no new home decor. Didn’t renew snow removal services. Reducing Christmas gift list and reducing cash birthday gifts. Not hiring autumn yard services, I’ll manage it myself. Meal planning, grocery budget- oi. Fuck Trump and every Republican titfucker in Congress.
Getting a good job out of college was never easy. I graduated college in 2011 and for each job paying $50k+, there were easily hundreds of applicants.
College nowadays is only worth it if you do it right and at the right price. If you attend an expensice 4 yr private U, major in a fluff major, and come out with $200k+ debt, then you have nobody but yourself to blame.