Ambrico Ranginui was 16 when he scraped together enough birthday money and allowance to buy his first cryptocurrency. Growing up in a single-parent household had sharpened his hunger to get ahead. "I wanted to find new avenues to make money and crypto was so fascinating at the time," he said.
The gamble nearly broke him. Within a year, market swings had him checking his portfolio obsessively, anxiety bleeding into friendships and classes. He lost enough to quit crypto altogether. "There was always something to be worried about," Ranginui recalled.
But he didn't leave the markets. Now 21, Ranginui works as an investment analyst at Flatmate Ventures and has since poured money into lithium, robotics, and artificial intelligence. His journey mirrors a broader generational shift: nearly 30 percent of Gen Z has started investing in early adulthood, before even entering the workforce. That's nearly double the 15 percent of millennials who did so, and more than triple the 9 percent of Gen X.
Three forces are colliding to push the youngest investors into the market earlier than any cohort before them. Economic reality is one: unemployment for people aged 22 to 27 sits near 8 percent, higher than it was seven years ago, while consumer prices keep climbing. At the same time, employer retirement plans are vanishing and safety net programs are shrinking. The burden of financial security has shifted squarely onto individuals.
Technology is the second force. Apps like New Zealand's Sharesies have embedded investing into social media spaces where Gen Z already lives, bundling educational resources that make entry feel trustworthy and friction-free. Information about markets sits in the palm of every hand in ways previous generations never experienced.
The third is cultural. Finance discussion threads and social media have normalized investing talk among peers. What once felt like an adult activity locked behind barriers now feels like a natural next step.
Yet the generation is splitting into two camps: the cautious many and the risk-hungry few.
The majority are playing it safe. About 75 percent of Gen Z investors hold exchange-traded funds in their retirement accounts, compared to just 60 percent of baby boomers. Shivana Anand, 23, opened a Roth IRA the moment she entered college and has been feeding it with automatic monthly deposits ever since, building a portfolio now worth in the mid-six figures. "My money should be working for me," she said. "I invest so money doesn't become so stressful and I rather invest slowly and steadily, which is the tried and true method, than actively manage a portfolio and worry about not calling the right bet."
This conservative tilt reflects hard-won lessons about cost. Gen Z is "probably the most cost-savvy generation which will pay off in the long run," according to Andy Reed, head of behavioral economics research at Vanguard. "They are learning about investing quite early on and are genuinely showing interest in participating in the market."
But a smaller, more visible cohort is chasing volatility. Day traders and crypto speculators make headlines and fill social feeds. Minwoo Lim, 28, trades commodities like crude oil for a living after South Korean military service ended his previous path. He made a 1,000 euro profit earlier this year on crude oil positions when US and Israeli attacks on Iran sent prices surging. Yet Lim is blunt about the odds: only 4 percent of day traders earn enough to live on, and roughly 90 percent lose money overall.
Lim attributes his success to psychology more than strategy. "First is strategy, then discipline and last is psychology. It's a trinity," he said. Most Gen Z traders fail, he argues, because they underestimate human behavior: greed, fear, and cognitive bias cloud judgment. "We are very greedy. We want to earn more and work less."
Despite his own trading career, Lim warns against it. "Those who invest long term are ultimately going to win over those trading or in crypto," he said. "You're probably better off buying S&P 500 and leaving it for 10 years."
Another trend cutting across both camps is the rise of AI as a financial advisor. About 41 percent of Gen Z say they would trust machines to manage their portfolios, and many already do. Kelly Noel Mbunui Kameni, 22, uses ChatGPT to fact-check her investment decisions. She photographs her portfolio and asks the AI for suggestions on diversification and summarizations of company financial documents. On a scholarship studying finance in Kenya, she has invested about $400 so far, with plans to keep building so she can pursue advanced degrees without signing on to a corporate job. "I am enjoying learning about finance and putting my money to work through investing," she said. "I don't wish to give my life to an exploitative company and my investments will fund the life I want."
Author James Rodriguez: "Gen Z is doing what any rational generation would when the social contract cracks: betting on themselves instead of waiting for the system to catch them."
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