One of the most significant differences compared to previous generations is the age at which Gen Z starts thinking about money. According to the World Economic Forum (WEF) report from March 2025, titled 2024 Global Investor Outlook, approximately one-third of young people start investing while still at university or in early adulthood. This is approximately twice the share of millennials at the same stage of life. Even more interestingly, more than half of the Gen Z respondents surveyed started becoming interested in investing before entering the labour market. By comparison, for the baby boomer generation, this was only around one-fifth. And the reason? Young people are growing up in an environment of high living costs, expensive housing, uncertainty in the labour market and a weaker belief that the state or traditional pension system will one day take care of their financial future. Investing is therefore ceasing to be a way for some members of Gen Z to build wealth and becoming a tool for securing a certain level of financial security in the first place.
Trust Is Shifting from Institutions to Technology
Young people are more interested in investing than previous generations, while at the same time they have less trust in the system that offers it to them. The result is a shift in trust towards technology. Gen Z is much more likely to use investment apps, digital platforms, social media, finfluencers and tools based on artificial intelligence. According to the WEF, more than 40 percent of young investors are even willing to entrust the management of their investments to artificial intelligence. Among baby boomers, this share is only 14 percent. For the younger generation, technology is therefore not merely a tool. It is becoming part of the financial system itself that they trust.
Cryptocurrencies Instead of a Traditional Portfolio?
This shift is clearly reflected in the composition of investments themselves. Gen Z is considerably more willing to invest in more complex and riskier assets, including cryptocurrencies and various alternative investments. According to WEF data, as many as 71 percent of investors from Gen Z have cryptocurrencies accounting for more than one-third of their investment portfolio. Compared with older generations, which rely more heavily on traditional diversification and risk-reduction tools, this represents a significantly different approach. The willingness to take control of their own finances can lead to greater financial independence, but on the other hand – especially among inexperienced investors – it can also mean underestimating risk. The easier investing through a smartphone becomes, the easier it is to enter investment products that young investors may not fully understand. Although it is true that we learn best from our own mistakes, some mistakes can be genuinely very costly, and this is doubly true when it comes to investments.
The Importance of Keeping Finances Safely Stored Is Changing
An interesting question is whether the same change in behaviour could gradually extend to bank deposits as well. Europeans, unlike Americans, still hold a significant share of their financial wealth in cash and in bank accounts, but rising inflation is gradually reducing their purchasing power. More and more savings are therefore flowing into funds, stocks and other investments. For some savers, the bank is thus ceasing to be the automatic answer to the question of where money is safest, because they also want their money to be capable of retaining its value. This is precisely where Gen Z's behaviour could be a precursor to a broader change that will gradually affect how older generations manage their finances as well.
The Change in Behaviour May Be Bigger Than Gen Z Itself
The most important aspect of the new trend may not be how many young people currently own cryptocurrencies. What is more significant is that the very relationship with money is changing. Gen Z wants immediate access, simplicity, personalisation and the ability to make decisions about their money themselves. A traditional financial advisor is no longer the automatic first choice. Banks and other financial institutions are therefore facing a generational challenge. It is not enough to offer an account or an investment product. They have to show why a young person should entrust their money specifically to them. And that is why today's change in the behaviour of young investors could be the beginning of a much larger transformation. If trust in traditional institutions continues to weaken while investing through technology becomes easier, the boundary between “saving” and “investing” could shift significantly in the coming years. And all generations could subsequently benefit from this shift...
