Why Is Gen Z Spending Like The World’s Ending? - Caleb Hammer
Chris Williamson and Caleb Hammer explore why Gen Z is taking on record credit card debt despite better financial literacy, tracing it to a pessimism loop fed by social media algorithms.
The gist
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Gen Z holds more credit card debt than millennials did at the same age, with 59% of buy-now-pay-later users coming from that generation.
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Consumer sentiment is near all-time lows according to University of Michigan surveys, even though GDP growth remains relatively healthy.
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Hammer says debt on depreciating assets like vehicles and campers can make saving for a home down payment mathematically impossible.
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Filing for bankruptcy without changing spending habits tends to repeat the same debt cycle, treating the symptom rather than the cause.
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