Gen Zs Financial Problem
[Applause]
[Music]
do you have a nest egg
a nest egg is a sufficient amount of
money that you first earn
then save i started the foundation of my
nest egg when i was about six years old
and i joined a modeling agency in new
york city
my mom would take me out of school for
two hours at a time to do a photo shoot
i modeled for about four years and my
parents deposited all of my earnings
into a bank account and left it there
until the beginning of this year when i
decided that i wanted to invest some of
my money
i did a lot of research about the best
stocks terms
strategy software markets and how it all
works
while i was learning about investing i
came to the realization
that the way people are saving needs to
change
if and when you have a nest egg what
would you do with it would you put it in
a piggy bank or under the mattress
would you put it away in a conservative
bank account or
would you put the money into a risky
investment account or an asset that
gains value over time
it turns out that the way people have
managed their money has changed over the
years
and it needs to change even more for my
generation
while i was teaching myself about
finances i learned why it is so
important for my generation
to make money early by starting a nest
egg start actively saving their money
and perhaps most importantly educate
ourselves about finances in order to set
ourselves up for future financial
success
nowadays most people need more than one
income to support themselves a job alone
is not enough
during the beginning of covet 19 many
people lost their only job
which was their one source of income
they’ve since relied on whatever money
they can gather to help pay their
expenses
and the insufficient stimulus checks
that only came three times in america
nobody was safe during the pandemic
especially from the employment crisis
people from all acros across the globe
young and old
from all walks of life suddenly found
themselves wondering how they’d make
ends meet
even a rabbi from california zach
kamenetz felt the
effects of unemployment when his
synagogue announced cutbacks last april
that included his role if a man of faith
isn’t safe then who is
like those who are in dire financial
situations i realized how dangerous it
is to have one income and no savings
let me explain the savings and working
patterns of the
generations of my grandfather and father
the generation before baby boomers is
called the silent generation
it started in 1928 and is the generation
that my grandfather is in
the people in that generation were born
in and some grew up in a world of
economic crisis and war
despite the hardships of their parents
teenagers in the silent generation
didn’t have jobs but were able to
recover quickly and end up economically
sound
my dad who was in gen x started saving
towards the end of high school
he said that it was necessary to help
him with college expenses
so he could learn what it means to save
for the future
the importance of saving early became a
family tradition
but my family is not necessarily re
representative
of saving patterns across generations
some of the problems that my generation
gen z will be facing
have been seen before by millennials and
gen x the two generations before gen z
social class inequality also known as
the pay gap is a big problem that
millennials and gen x face right now
and gen z will be facing very soon
socioeconomic inequality is the
difference of wealth and opportunities
among the classes
from baby boomers to gen x the wealth
inequality drop was small and
proportional to the drops between other
generations
the drop from gen x to millennials on
the other hand was disproportionate
the difference in wealth between upper
and lower classes
is so large that wealthy millennials own
much more wealth and opportunities than
poor millennials
this chart shows the pay gap between the
top 0.1 percent of people
compared to the bottom 90 percent of the
population
as you can see we’ve climbed past the
levels of income inequality in the
gilded age
a time period when factory workers had
no rights no minimum wage
children worked in mines and high level
executives and politicians were corrupt
another problem that millennials have is
productivity and compensation of blue
collar workers
from 1979 to 2018 productivity rose 69.6
percent
meaning that the output of goods and
labor increased due to improved
technology
and increased worker efficiency pay
however for those workers only rose 11.6
percent
these two values should rise together at
the same rate when they separate like
they are now
more money goes to executives who do the
same work they’ve done for years
rather than the workers who increase
their productivity
both of these problems could continue
into my generation and are likely to be
worse
gen z needs to prepare and prevent what
happened to millennials from happening
to us
if we seek multiple income sources and
actively save now
everyone will be well versed in
financial security and we will
we will be much closer to
generation-wide financial stability
many people think that the whole
millennial generation is bad with money
but they started saving at an earlier
age in the generations before them
despite starting to stay safe earlier
they have much more debt
and their money has less influence than
it had for any other generation
millennials might not have more money
but is not their fault
they’ve been dealing with student loan
debt when college tuition on average
rose 37 percent
from 2008 to 2018 and minimum wage has
dropped significantly below inflation
lines
all signs suggest that for my generation
it will be worse
the rich will continue to get richer and
the poor will stay poor
those of us who are not in the top one
percent of american wealth
need to start using the tools available
to us the tools that the ultra wealthy
have used for years but nobody else knew
about
it is one of the only ways that we as
regular people
rather than the extremely wealthy will
combat this problem
i urge everyone my age to prepare for a
worse future economy
because as is true with all of life
economic struggles come quickly and
without much
warning from what i learned the best
tips i can give
is to start three different bank
accounts a basic risk-free savings
account with an amount of money that can
support you for a few months without
income
the second account is a tax-free
retirement account that can only be
accessed after the age of 65
and builds on itself over time since it
is opened
the third account is an investment
account that you can actively
actively manage or leave dormant for
years
another great way to take control of
your financial future
is with side hustles which have been
gaining popularity
my friend and i have a side hustle of
power washing driveways
we found a power washer on facebook
marketplace for free
replace the carburetor and now we use it
to make money on the weekends
side hustles can be anything that you
want and should just be a supplement to
your main income
finally a good starting point to begin
your economic growth is learning about
personal finance
i believe that personal finance should
be a high school graduation requirement
it could go a long way in helping many
of my generation avoid or lessen
financial difficulties over their
lifetime
in addition to learning on our own
through youtube books friends in any way
that we can
finances have become a big part of our
lives and should be taught in school
with information of this importance
education about personal finance
can save people from a world of debt and
significant financial problems
the more that we invest in ourselves in
the form of education and experience
the better returns on ourselves we will
have
i am in no way a financial advisor but
through hours of research and firsthand
experience
i’ve realized that many in my generation
will have trouble financially supporting
themselves
if we do not start now so take advantage
of what’s available to us through the
internet
and start building your nest egg thank
you