Generation Z jumps into investing trend

Young adults today were born into a digital age with a world of knowledge and opportunities at their fingertips. That’s led Generation Z to start investing in the stock market years before their older peers — and in larger sums. A report from financial firm Fidelity found 21 percent of its Gen Z participants, young adults born between 1997 and 2012, had contributed to a Roth 401(k). That generation also increased its IRA contributions by more than twice the amount as millennials in the first quarter of 2026, compared with that same time in 2025. Investing is not just standard practice for many young adults. It’s become trendy. But global economic instability has also pushed many young adults to look for quick returns through gambling or betting on prediction markets. “There’s a financial outlook that they just have such low chances of things like owning a house in the future that they don’t even try,” said Mason Shin, a senior studying finance at Washington State University Vancouver. Shin said there’s a large gap between young adults who are financially educated and those who think things like inflation and housing prices are moving too fast for them to catch up. “One of our main goals is to tackle that discrepancy,” said Gabriel Sharrar, 21, another WSU Vancouver senior studying finance. The students, both leaders in the WSU Finance Club, host events for their peers on how to get rid of debt, manage credit and other financial skills. The club’s events focus on “students investing in themselves to build them to that point where they feel comfortable, maybe taking a bigger risk in investing their money to try to build for the future,” Sharrar said. The club’s events usually draw 70 to 100 people. About half are business students. The club is open to students from every major. Sharrar has been in control of his own finances since he was a teenager. He focuses on long-term investments like IRAs. Sharrar said the first couple of years on his own were challenging, which sparked his passion for helping as many people as possible to become comfortable with their finances. Trading teen Shin began investigating financial trading as a teenager. “I thought it was very interesting how you could invest in the stock market and turn some money into more money,” he said. He opened his first trading account on the Robinhood app at 18. He soon turned to long-term investing and opened a Roth IRA. He has also dabbled in swing investing — that is, buying and selling a stock over a few weeks to make a profit. Shin said there’s a large discrepancy between people in his generation who are financially savvy and those who aren’t. “I have met a lot of Gen Z people that are doing very well for themselves, investing or trading,” Shin said. Some are using long-term investment strategies and some are using funded accounts. Gen Z inherited a mature investing ecosystem, said Brett Norris, vice president of portfolio and wealth management at Ferguson Wellman Capital Management. Tax-advantaged retirement accounts like IRAs and 401(k)s have been around since the 1970s. New employees are often auto-enrolled in 401(k) retirement accounts, most of which offer target date funds. Investing is more accessible now than ever before, with a proliferation of stock trading apps and no initial deposit requirements. Norris said social media brings the idea of investing and financial literacy to the forefronts of younger people’s minds, with TikTok and Instagram Reels featuring videos on the topic. “That can be a double-edged sword because it can be very challenging to verify the validity of the information that’s coming out,” he said. Older generations often saw wealth generation as a culmination of discipline after several decades, Norris said. But young adults have reframed that to a degree, seeing opportunities like prediction markets that promise wealth overnight. Norris said the younger people get started investing, the better. But he also encourages young adults to “right-size” their expectations and understand that investing isn’t like going to a casino. More ways to gamble As investing has become more popular among young adults, so have prediction markets, sports betting and online gambling. “People are looking for something to do and something that’s instantly gratifying,” Shin said. “Online gambling, when you can access it from your phone, has become way too accessible.” Online gambling content is prolific on social media. Skyrocketing housing prices drive young adults further into the mindset of wanting to hunt down instant gratification from gambling or searching out Pokémon cards, Shin said. “Participating in the equity market is something where long-term discipline is typically rewarded,” Norris said. For Gen Zers who are employed and have access to an employee retirement account, Norris encourages contributing enough to their plan to capture the employer match. He also wants young people to know that investing in the market comes with risks. “It could decline,” he said. He encourages investors to have two to three months of expenses in an emergency reserve, maybe even in a high-yield savings account. And he tells his clients to pay off any high-interest debts, like credit cards. “Effectively the rate of return on that payoff very likely exceeds the rate you could expect to earn in the market,” he said. Shin said there’s more tools than ever to learn about personal finance, but individuals must truly want to become financially literate. “There is a lot of effort that has to go into building good habits and to being aware of your financial decisions,” he said. He suggests such strategies as foregoing coffee runs and investing that money instead. “I would encourage people to start investing, no matter how small it is,” Shin said.

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