this post was submitted on 01 Jan 2025
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Economics

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38% Gen Z adults suffering from 'midlife crisis', stuck in 'vicious cycle' of financial, job stress (www.moneycontrol.com)
submitted 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) by MicroWave@lemm.ee to c/economics@lemmy.world
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Summary

38% of Gen Z adults, under 27, report experiencing a "midlife crisis" due to financial instability, mental health struggles, and career uncertainty.

Financial stress, cited by 30%, stems from rising living costs, stagnant wages, and unattainable milestones like homeownership.

Mental health challenges and career difficulties further compound the crisis. Many turn to "doom-spending" on non-essentials for escapism, worsening financial pressures.

Experts urge older generations to provide practical financial guidance to empower Gen Z and help them achieve long-term stability and growth.

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[–] Ekybio@lemmy.world 79 points 3 days ago (2 children)

You cant fight a systemic problem with a personal solution in the long term.

I can go to my psychiatrist for as long as I want, but that wont stop climate change from being real, the owning class from exploiting me or fascicsm from wanting to end my life.

I dont need therapy, but CEOs rotting in solitary confinement for their crimes against humanity and this planet.

[–] sin_free_for_00_days@sopuli.xyz 14 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Seems like almost every policy I've seen treats the symptoms and not the disease.

[–] Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 3 days ago

It's more profitable for shareholders that way.

[–] CaptDust@sh.itjust.works 41 points 3 days ago (2 children)

As a midlife millennial experiencing financial instability, mental health struggles and career uncertainty - can relate and don't blame these kids in the slightest.

Wish I could say things get better, but I lack supporting evidence. Experience what happiness you can with what you have.

[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 21 points 3 days ago (1 children)

You're only 2% behind them. It's every generation by the way that's having issues. I bet boomers and gen x are having less but similar numbers. This is a class issue, not a generational one.

According to a survey conducted by Arta, a staggering 30% of Gen Z respondents identified financial issues as their primary source of stress. Millennials, aged 28 to 43, echoed similar concerns, with 28% citing money as their biggest challenge.

[–] CaptDust@sh.itjust.works 9 points 3 days ago

Yeah, basically right. I had a joke written that I'm calling dibs on publishing this survey for the next generation, but the thought depressed me out of posting it.

[–] stoly@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

This has been going on since mid GenX, believe it or not--the Boomers were the last group to be able to just get in and work a job. It wasn't until the Millenials, however, that people started talking about it instead of just accepting it as normal.

[–] kandoh@reddthat.com 7 points 2 days ago

Your 20s are the most difficult time, you have the least amount of support and the only people interested in helping you progress in life are also out to exploit either your physical energy or passion for your craft.

I remember being 24 and feeling a deep shame that I didn't have my career job, or my own apartment. Meanwhile i was literally paying hundreds of dollars in transportation costs a month to work at places for free just for the experience.

[–] cheers_queers@lemm.ee 28 points 3 days ago (1 children)

how is advice going to do anything if even boomers are struggling financially?

[–] shikitohno@lemm.ee 9 points 2 days ago

See, that's the fun thing, advice won't help at all. This is just the ruling class trying to shift the blame for the current situation onto a lack of paternal figures in Gen Z's life, or broken families, or some other moral panic BS to make peoples' suffering their own fault, rather than having to point out that this is the inevitable outcome of our chosen economic/political system.

No amount of advice is going to convince a younger adult that they were mistaken when they looked around and accurately noted they're stuck in a world that is quite rapidly going downhill, with no realistic prospect of it improving in the near future. They're stuck with crap jobs that are constantly trying to overload them more and more, for ever less pay. Between ghouls of the older generation and those who failed to amass enough wealth in their younger years to be able to leave work, positions throughout the career ladder are still being occupied by people who ought to have retired long ago, meaning that there's little prospect of any significant career growth. In other words, they can't even push through all the shit for a light at the end of the tunnel, where they'll get theirs and finally find some stability in later years if they just put their heads down and grind through it.

Even if older relatives have some sage financial advice to give, most people and their families simply aren't in the position to provide the sort of real, material support that is necessary to alleviate this, nor should they have to. These things should rightly fall to the government, either in the case of regulations to prevent companies from pushing so many into such precarious positions in the pursuit of making the line go up for another quarter, or as a social safety net to help the inevitable number of people who fall on hard times no matter what.

Just more gaslighting nonsense from the powers that be to deflect from systemic failures of our society.

[–] cabron_offsets@lemmy.world 13 points 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

I think more CEOs bouta get Luigi’d.

[–] Allonzee@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Stop infecting me with hope.

In our dystopia, hope only leads to more pain inflicted by the owners.

[–] FoxyFerengi@lemm.ee 15 points 3 days ago

We were in the "Great Recession" by the time I was an adult needing a normal job. It absolutely sucked, and I feel for all the young adults going through a similar thing.