“Magic doesn’t pay the rent”. According to a new Tawkify survey, 46 percent of America’s Gen Z’ers prefer financial security to love, compared to 41 percent of Millennials
Generation Z (or Gen Z) includes those born between 1997 and 2012, while Millennials are those born between 1981 and 1996. Two different groups in terms of age, but also in their approach to life, relationships and the economy.
Growing up amid economic crises, student debt, and an ever-increasing cost of living, Gen Z youth are choosing to forgo the romantic fairy tale to avoid the risk of living precariously amid frugal meals of precooked ramen noodles and evictions.
Experts predict an obvious impact on interpersonal relationships: later, pragmatic and less frequent relationships. Survey data also show that Gen Z is on average less affluent than Millennials, in part because they often pay more than $500 a month to cover student loans.
“Millennials have had more intense experiences: they’ve had time to explore love, make mistakes and overcome breakups,” Kevin Thompson, CEO of 9i Capital Group and host of the 9innings podcast, told Newsweek. “Gen Z, on the other hand, grew up during the economic chaos. Many of them have only known hardship, so it’s not surprising that they prioritize financial stability. They try to avoid what they’ve seen: fatigue, stress and constant survival.”
Brie Temple, COO and head of matchmaking at Tawkify, told Newsweek, “They don’t consider it a cold gesture, but a smart choice. It’s a pragmatic attitude, born out of a fragile economy and a real fear of repeating past mistakes. In the long run, this could lead more people to put off relationships, marriages or children, not because they don’t want them, but because they don’t feel ready. Generation Z has not given up on love; they just want to be in a stable condition before taking the plunge.”
Gen Z’s is thus not a rejection of love, but a reprioritization in an increasingly unstable world in which economic independence is seen as a form of self-defense.
