Ananya Jain
Aditya Birla World Academy

Generation Z – “the future of the global economy”

Introduction

I am a member of Generation Z. Gen Z are as large in number as Millennials, with the oldest members entering their senior year of college. They control more than $200 billion in direct spending. Since this generation will control most of the markets, I wanted to understand the trends and patterns in their aspirations and attitude towards investments.

Main results and findings

Through the short survey that I conducted with a sample size of 50 individuals, I realised that GenZ is an on-demand generation. They have high aspirations from life and are focused on their Career. 50 percent of my sample were very optimistic about their own personal future—more than the millennials.

While boomers focus on investments for retirement, Gen Zers are thinking about education and careers. 90% of my sample want to go to college and many aspire for a PhD and post graduate studies and are willing to take on part time work to
generate extra income. Technology is also in trend with more than 75% of Gen Z using it.
They get most of their financial advice from their parents and are conservative spenders and generally trusting of big banks. I was happy to see that most of them were well aware of the various financial instruments and some already considered themselves as experts. Buying a house, stable career, a car, money for retirement and a luxury living is seem more as a necessity rather than an opportunity, and hence, investments would be a good platform to fund the same. With newly-developed tools such as financial technology, or fintech, members of Gen Z are living at a time when they can make informed decisions for their money in more convenient ways. They are also prepared for the digitization of financial services given their ability to navigate new technologies.

Conclusion

GenZ is a financially savvy generation. As more and more tools come to market to help
people stay in control of their money, the generations that are more open to trying new apps and features are getting better and more adept at managing their finances. These younger investors including myself are more likely than other generations to say computers can do a better job than humans in the areas like taking their whole financial situation into account, being easier to work with, and providing better investment performance over time. Young people are entering the workforce with an expectation that technology will help them manage their income streams and finances.  This is a dynamic time for financial solutions, and there are a lot of great tools.  Companies developing these tools need to understand the users and know how to communicate the benefits so these young consumers will engage in managing their money early.