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What you need to know about Gen-Z's spending power

Our generation has less monetary agency than our elders, and avocado toast isn’t the problem

There's too much focus on what we aren't buying, not that it's an issue of cash flow. For starters, the 9-to-5 is less common, with most (53 per cent) Gen-Z income originating from freelance sources, leading to extended periods of feast or famine. Out of caution, or in some cases fear, Gen-Z save more, being smarter with their money in the short term during those lean times.

So, where is our money going? Though most Gen-Z lack the buying power for major lifestyle changes – purchasing a car or house, getting married, or having children – we actually make up a disproportionate share of consumers worldwide. Forty per cent of consumers today are Gen-Z, despite only making up 30 per cent of the population and around a quarter of the workforce.

When it does come to a purchase though, compared to the older generations we are thriftier and more careful with our money, whether it be paying a higher price for brand loyalty, or going without a product altogether. Millennials killed diamonds, weddings, and homeownership, so it stands to reason Gen-Z will take out our share of frivolous industries. I hope it's lithium mines and credit card debt, but that's just because we have a plurality of the latter and too many of the former fomenting war like diamonds used to.

For Gen-Z, progressive stances on social issues from brands and authenticity when it comes to products are the meat of the matter. We don't want to even get close to giving our money to people who neither deserve nor need it. Social media usage by Millennials is a big part of the reason the diamond industry – rather, the blood diamond industry – died. From one fateful tweet by The Economist in 2016, to the horrors in west African conflict zones disseminated via social media, Millennials killed the diamond industry because it needed killing. They just needed the buying power to choose cheaper, conflict-free options.

Yet all of that is meaningless, because it's the money that's weaker. I am buying less, beyond the bounds of inflation, with my wage than my parents or grandparents. Whether due to corporate greed, international violent conflicts making it harder to buy, or COVID-19 showing us the weaknesses of the international public healthcare system driving up costs due to fear in the stock market.

The cost-of-living skyrocketing over the past five years, when Gen-Z was finishing school or in a global pandemic, has occurred entirely outside of our control. As it is, we'll be waiting until after 30 to get married and have kids. How long until we can settle into our careers and start saving for retirement? Ten more years? Twenty?

I was following the UK election, and something brilliant I read about the National Health Service was spot on to this problem and so many others. When a system needs money when there's no money, or more workers when there's no one to hire, reform is the only answer (improve, ameliorate, or refine).

But, since we're far from the majority in government and corporate leadership (thanks, Boomers) let's not worry about paying down debt or our place in the rat race. Instead, let's work on killing another industry. Ankle socks are a nice start, but the lasting progress we want will remain out of reach if we allow previous generations to make the conversation about our habits, not how they messed up.

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