Gen Z is widely seen as a generation experiencing what\u2019s been called \u201cdelayed adulthood.\u201d They\u2019re more likely to still live at home with their parents or, in many cases, have moved back after an initial failed foray into independent life. They\u2019re delaying marriage, putting off having kids and making many other sacrifices just to cope with high costs of living and a housing market with abysmally low supply and pricing that, for most of them, has soared far out of reach.<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s one important financial milestone that this youngest generation of adult Americans is quietly working toward, making more progress than the generations before them. And it might be the most significant financial landmark in adult life: retirement<\/a>.<\/p>\n Keep reading for a look at how Gen Z is already preparing for their golden years, and how you may benefit from adopting some of the same strategies, no matter your age<\/a>.<\/p>\n Gen Z is, without making a big deal out of it, inching ahead in retirement saving<\/a>, according to Vanguard, which analyzed data made available from a Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances. As it stands today, those born between the mid 1990s and the early 2010s are the most prepared for retirement of all current adult demographic groups. Forty-seven percent of all workers between the ages of 24 and 28 have somehow managed to save enough money to keep them on track for a comfortable retirement, no matter how eventual it may seem.<\/p>\n Contrast that number with the lower 42% of all adults who are likely to have sufficient savings by retirement age to maintain their standard of living. And as you look at progressively older age groups, that number drops even more. A full 59% of Gen Xers are staring down the barrel of retirement age without adequate preparation, and a shocking 60% of all boomers not yet retired may still be working because they don\u2019t have enough savings on which to comfortably retire.<\/p>\n So, how is Gen Z pulling this off?<\/p>\n Find Out: Retirement Net Worth: How Your Savings Compare to the Average Retiree<\/a><\/p>\n Read Next: 5 Clever Ways Retirees Are Earning Up To $1K per Month From Home<\/a><\/p>\n Time is still on the side of this youngest group of working Americans, but that\u2019s not the only hack this group has at its disposal \u2014 after all, their older peers were young once, too. For zoomers, the \u201cone simple trick\u201d is the way retirement savings systems have evolved on a corporate level. Gen Z isn\u2019t better with money, per se, but they do have the benefit of automatic retirement plans that many enroll in without even being aware of it.<\/p>\n The boomer generation largely relied on pensions, many of which dwindled and eventually disappeared, and Gen Xers inherited a lot of this faulty system only to have to make mid-career changes into better options like 401(k) plans that had to be carefully managed and set up manually. Gen Z workers are typically automatically enrolled in 401(k) and 403(b) retirement accounts, to which their employers make matching contributions. And the best part of the arrangement is that they don\u2019t have to even think about it.<\/p>\n These automatic retirement savings<\/a> options generally kick in on their first day of work with a preset savings rate and auto-escalation that keeps pace with wage increases, upping the amount that\u2019s contributed each year, again without any need for manual intervention. The result is a hell of a tailwind that older generations simply didn\u2019t have.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re on the dark side of 25, all hope isn\u2019t lost. Many Gen Z workers still have student loan debt hanging over them, which isn\u2019t as significant a concern for older workers. Despite this, they\u2019re still managing to squirrel away enough savings<\/a> to give them a milder winter forecast. The takeaway is to be flexible in your thinking when it comes to debt and savings. Don\u2019t ignore low-interest debt, but don\u2019t stop saving for retirement in favor of knocking that debt down faster.<\/p>\n You may not have 40 years to prepare, but you can still take advantage of some of the same tools. Start where you are with the automated tools your employer may provide and start looking at your retirement contribution as something like a non-negotiable tax you\u2019re paying to future you.<\/p>\n More From GOBankingRates<\/p>\n This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com<\/a>: Why Gen Z May Retire More Easily Than Boomers \u2014 and How You Can, Too<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gen Z is widely seen as a generation experiencing what\u2019s been called \u201cdelayed adulthood.\u201d They\u2019re more likely to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257482,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[138,246,85365,3106,111,139,69,244,245,4657],"class_list":{"0":"post-257481","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-finance","10":"tag-gen-xers","11":"tag-gen-z","12":"tag-new-zealand","13":"tag-newzealand","14":"tag-nz","15":"tag-personal-finance","16":"tag-personalfinance","17":"tag-retirement-savings"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}