Gen Z Is Investing Earlier Than Any Generation Before. Here's How They're Doing It

The high schooler from California’s Orange County began investing when he was just eight via Stockpile, an online brokerage designed for young people and their families.

Generation Z is starting to invest earlier than previous generations, thanks in part to a technological boom that has introduced new apps and made investing more accessible.

On average, Gen Zers—those born between 1997 and 2012—began investing at age 19, according to Charles Schwab’s 2024 Modern Wealth Survey. That is earlier than millennials who began at age 25, Generation X at age 32 and baby boomers at age 35.

Many young investors came of age amid a technological boom that has changed the investing landscape, introducing apps like Robinhood , cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence-powered financial advice, all while they can jump on social media to share their wins and losses.

“This is money I put in and I don’t touch,” says Lunde, a high school senior from California’s Orange County who began investing at age eight via Stockpile, an online brokerage designed for young people and their families. “It’s honestly just about building wealth so I have flexibility with my money for when big purchases come about, whether that be a car or a house or even for retirement.”

Lunde started by investing $500 in 2017 and has since contributed via Stockpile gift cards received from family for his birthdays and Christmas, as well as money his parents have rewarded him with for getting good grades. He makes all the investing decisions, but his father oversees his account, which will be turned over to Lunde when he turns 18.

After graduating from high school, Lunde plans to attend college in Southern California to study business administration. He hopes to work in finance after graduating.

While Lunde is an extreme case, he isn’t alone in investing early. A 2022 study from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority found that 78% of investors between ages 18 and 34 trade via a mobile app and 60% use social media as a source of investment information.

These platforms surged during the pandemic, with Robinhood adding more than three million accounts in the first half of 2020. While the excitement has slowed, the majority of young investors still use these apps.

Gen Z is also contending with new investments, many of which haven’t been around long enough to know how they will perform over the long term.

Samuel Forthofer, 27, puts roughly 60% of the money he invests into his 401(k) and the other 40% into cryptocurrencies. He became excited about digital assets when he got a job working in public relations for crypto companies.

His enthusiasm picked up in 2021 when Dogecoin—a token created as a joke that Forthofer says he invested a small amount of money in—soared in price from three cents per coin to more than 70 cents per coin.

“My friends got really excited about it, and I got really excited about it,” says Forthofer, who is from Michigan’s Macomb County. “I thought it was cool how this small amount I put in was growing to be this big number.”

After that, he began investing in Bitcoin and Ether, which he will trade based on market-moving events, like the election, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s speeches or Elon Musk’s social media posts.

Trading is now easier thanks to apps that allow investors to buy and sell stocks and other investments in seconds with zero commissions. During the pandemic, these platforms surged with Robinhood adding more than three million accounts in the first half of 2020.

While the excitement has slowed, the majority of young investors still use these apps: A 2022 study from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority found that 78% of investors between ages 18 and 34 trade via a mobile app and 60% use social media as a source of investment information.

Gen Z is also dealing with a different retirement outlook than the generations before them. The Social Security trust fund is expected to be depleted by 2033, which could trigger a 21% benefit cut if Congress doesn’t step in. Housing and healthcare costs continue to rise.

But that doesn’t mean young people aren’t saving. MaryClare Colombo, 27, says news coverage and social media content about how Gen Z and Millennials are in a worse state than generations before them contributed to her concerns about her financial future.

“I’ve been kind of starting to panic about whether I will have enough for retirement because I’m not putting a huge amount in my retirement accounts,” says Colombo, who lives in Chicago and works for a software start-up. “This was the first year I started prioritizing those a little more…I don’t want to be working forever and ever.”

She says retirement saving is now her main goal. Between her Roth IRA