There is an opinion that today’s youth, the Generation Z (born between the late 1990s and the early 2010s), find it harder to become wealthy and succeed in life compared to their grandparents. Personally, I support this view, but I’m not inclined to pity Gen Z because this situation is easily explained.

Let’s start with the fact that Generation Z has inflated expectations. There are two reasons for this.

First, Gen Z members are more often the only child in the family compared to previous generations, meaning they received more parental attention and, as adults, perceive increased attention to their desires (“the world owes me everything”) as the norm.

For example, numerous sociological studies note that more than 70% of employees from Generation Z expect their position and responsibilities to change at least once a year. 32% expect to hold a managerial position within 5 years of graduating (source: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/356346958_Gen_Z_Perceptions_and_Expectations_upon_Entering_the_Workforce).

Second, modern media creates the impression among young people that they are born poor. Thirty years ago, people compared their lives to what they saw on TV, which mainly showcased the life of the upper middle class. Today, anyone can go on Instagram and realize how “insignificant” they are.

Combined with inflated expectations, this heightens the sense of personal poverty and inadequacy.

It might seem that we could end the post here, acknowledging that Gen Z’s high expectations clash with high ideals. But it’s not that simple.

Modern youth truly have it tougher because they were born at an unfortunate time.

Economic growth in the 21st century is lower than the average growth rates of the 1980s-2000s. Weaker economic growth results in less added value being created, intensifying the struggle for a wealthy life.

In recent decades, most developed countries have seen no major redistributions of wealth. In the US, the last major redistribution was in 1933 under President Roosevelt, referring to the gold confiscation.

Since interest rates are generally higher than GDP growth rates, assets tend to concentrate. Understandably, assets are usually owned by older people, not the youth, resulting in the wealth of the elderly growing faster than that of the young.

Finally, life expectancy is increasing. “Old people” continue to hold key management positions and are doing just fine.

This seemingly bleak situation is offset by the fact that today, there are exponentially more opportunities to earn money, become famous, and realize oneself compared to our parents’ generation. All it takes is the desire and perseverance.