Of Gen Z ages 18 to 22 still get financial help from family
A new Bank of America Institute report is a reality check for Gen Z, and it cuts both ways. The generation has the lowest savings-to-spending ratio of any on record, yet its spending keeps growing, holding strong across beauty, jewelry, coffee, and travel. Call it the little treat economy.
The support underneath it is the honest part. 51 percent of younger Gen Z, ages 18 to 22, still get financial help from parents or family, along with 29 percent of those 23 to 25 and 18 percent of those 26 to 29. A tougher entry-level job market, with fewer hours than young workers want, is a big reason the safety net is still holding many of them up.
"This generation is not reckless. It is underpaid, and it refuses to pretend otherwise."
So they are doing something about the income side. Many Gen Z workers are turning to gig work and side income to fund both the small luxuries and the bigger goals, treating a single paycheck as a starting point rather than a ceiling. That instinct, to add income streams instead of just cutting joy, is quietly entrepreneurial.
It reframes the lazy narrative. Gen Z is not spending itself into a hole out of apathy. It is spending on what feels worth it while stitching together the extra income a hard labor market did not hand them. That is stress, not carelessness.
This is the money reality behind everyone ANF covers. The path from getting by to building wealth runs through income, not guilt. The founders and creators we spotlight are Gen Z applying that same logic at a bigger scale.
The generation told it would never afford anything is busy building the income to.