Money. Identity. Time. The three big things on Gen Z’s mind

Big mood: our O-Week 2019 campaign.

We recently undertook an Australia-wide research project, deep-diving into 3,000 Gen Z student lives. We’re far from the shallow now, people.

The three biggest takeaways?

• 81% don’t feel financially stable.
• 72% don’t feel like they have free time.
• 63% are deeply concerned about how others perceive them.

Money. Identity. Time.

Gen Z students have a lot on their minds and not much in their pockets.

One striking figure sums up the current situation:

• 68% of the students interviewed were stressed about in life in general.

In case you’re more of a visual learner.

Here are some shifts Gen Z has witnessed:

• Australia’s household saving ratio has been shrinking since 2014. In other words, we tend to spend way more than we earn. You can hear it now: the collective financial angst of parents nationwide being voiced to any and all kids within earshot (hey, that’s one way to get them to move out!).
• The gig economy is growing; wages are not.
• Algorithms seemingly know people better than they know themselves.
• Payment’s changed. Nobody carries cash anymore and laybuy’s back with a (disruptive) vengeance.
• Unlike for many of their parents, uni isn’t free — and it definitely ain’t cheap.
• Causes — #MeToo, the climate crisis, and gender equality, to highlight some major examples— dominate the conversation. This might seem more social than financial on the surface, but we’ll get to that shortly.

No wonder they’re stressed.

You’ll also wanna take note of these things.

The approach to cash is a short-term one.

Tap & Go is the financial zeitgeist.

Students aren’t thinking about flipping a house or their super nest egg.

GenZ saves with a particular item or event in mind: item-wise, it’s something with a screen; experience-wise, it’s a trip or a festival. In the more immediate sense, it comes down to a mindset like “two hours of work = dinner and a drink after work”.

It’s not just a case of cost, but also one of convictions.

Gen Z will make purchase (and career) decisions based on brand values and behaviour, so it pays to consider how ethically the sweaters on the racks are sourced and how keep-able the cups you sell are.

There’s value in values, and students are more willing to commit to a brand if beliefs are aligned. Don’t exploit this empathy: reward it and applaud it e.g. offer the option of a donation or a discount, show them what their dollars go towards, etc.

Money allows them to…

• Side-hustle.
• Roam the globe.
• Alleviate stress.
• Create content and build a personal brand.
• Form relationships and network.
• Support movements they care about.
• Figure out who they are.

This is Gen Z taking control.

And this is where identity and time come into play: figuring out the former, while determining how the latter is spent.

Gen Z’s underwriting a lifestyle, with the KPI being their best lives.