New data on Gen Z indicates that young Americans are relatively rosy on the economy despite the issues facing their generation — but they are deeply divided when it comes to pressing societal issues, according to results from a new NBC News Stay Tuned Poll, powered by SurveyMonkey.
Three in 10 American adults under 30 years old say their personal financial situation has gotten worse compared to a year ago, and a similar 27% say their personal finances are better today. But while this second number may seem low, members of Gen Z were more likely than older generations to say their personal financial situation has gotten better over the last year. In comparison, only 18% of adults over 65 years old said their finances have gotten better over the last year.
Notably, pluralities of Gen Z registered voters surveyed last year in two waves of the 2024 NBC News Stay Tuned Gen Z poll reported their personal financial situation was worse than the year before, perhaps signaling their discontent toward the Biden administration and struggles with inflation at the time. That generation makes up a growing portion of the U.S. electorate, and it split more closely in the 2024 election than young voters had in years, with a double-digit shift toward Trump among voters under 30 compared to 2020, according to the NBC News exit poll. Male voters under 30 split practically evenly in 2024, the exit poll showed.
Beyond generational divides, the new poll also found different economic attitudes by gender specifically among Gen Z. Pluralities of men and women under 30 said their finances were about the same compared to a year ago, but a third of young men said their personal financial situation was better, compared to 20% of women who said the same.
A plurality of adults across all generations said inflation and the rising cost of living is the economic issue that is the most important to them and their family right now.
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Gen Z is emphatic about how they feel the policies of the Trump administration will affect their finances. While majorities across all generations disapprove of the way President Donald Trump is handling inflation and the cost of living, 7 in 10 members of Gen Z disapprove — 14 percentage points higher than the rate of disapproval among the oldest adults surveyed.
Gen Z opposes Trump’s hard-line immigration tactics on college campuses
Gen Z adults are largely unified in opposing how Trump’s hard-line immigration policies have affected college campuses, though there are important differences by party identification.
A full 92% of Gen Z adults believe it is important that people in the United States who hold student visas, work visas and green cards are given due process protections when facing criminal or civil charges. A majority of nearly every demographic said those due process protections are important — including Republicans and those who identify with the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement.
About a quarter of young adults overall support revoking visas if the government determines a person’s presence in the U.S. would have “adverse foreign policy consequences” — the process the Trump administration has used to initiate deportations of some students over their criticism of and protest against Israel’s military action in Gaza.
Palestinian supporters gather for a protest at Columbia University in New York on Oct. 12, 2023.Yuki Iwamura / AP file
Attitudes differ along party lines, though, with a majority (56%) of Gen Z Republicans saying they support the deportations, compared to only 19% of independents and 7% of Democrats.
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There were also gender differences: 18% of women said they support the deportations (82% oppose) compared to 30% of men (70% oppose).
Gen Z more liberal across a range of societal issues
The poll finds that Gen Z holds more liberal views than older Americans on a range of social issues. There are key gender and partisan divides among adults under 30, however.
For example, 74% of Gen Z said efforts or programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) are helpful to the country, a number that is higher than for any other generation. Within Gen Z, 85% of women think DEI efforts are helpful compared to 63% of men.
Interestingly, these gender numbers barely change when looking at the intersection of gender and education — a variable thought to be the main dividing line in U.S. politics. Roughly 6 in 10 Gen Z men believe these efforts are helpful, regardless of whether they attended college. That compares to roughly 8 in 10 women who think these programs are helpful, also regardless of college attendance.
There is another notable gender divide on the question of traditional gender roles.
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A 67% majority of adults under 30 disagree with the statement that America would be stronger if more women held traditional gender roles in society, such as homemaking and raising children. But there’s a 15-point gender gap.
While a majority of young men disagree, 41% agree that women should hold more traditional gender roles, compared to only 26% of young women. Three-quarters of young women disagree, including a 58% majority who said they strongly disagree.
Meanwhile, majorities across all generations agreed that there are only two genders, male and female. Six in 10 Gen Z respondents agreed, the lowest of any generation — again with large gender splits among young adults on this question.
Seven in 10 young men agree with the statement, while around half (51%) of young women agree.
This NBC News Stay Tuned poll was powered by SurveyMonkey, the fast, intuitive feedback management platform where 20 million questions are answered daily. It was conducted online April 11-20 among a national sample of 19,682 adults aged 18 and over, including 2,230 adults ages 18-29. Reported percentages exclude item nonresponse and round to the nearest percentage point. The estimated margin of error for this survey among all adults is plus or minus 2.2 percentage points. The estimated margin of error for this survey among 18-29-year-olds, or Gen Z, is plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.
Reader question: My spouse has little interest in our financial position. As we age, this concerns me. I try to share some basic information (income, spending, account balances, debt, and so on) each month but rarely get a response. I think graphs or charts might be of more interest to her than a bunch of numbers. What recommendations would you have for illustrating our financial position so that I am not the only person aware of how we are situated? Thanks!
Answer: Your situation is pretty common. Most couples I know develop a division of labor over time, where one person is in charge of financial matters and the other person is less involved. That’s definitely the case for my husband and me. He’s in charge of paying all the monthly bills and preparing our tax returns, but the financial planning and investment decisions are up to me. This type of arrangement might work well for a long time, but can become less sustainable with age, particularly if the “finance person” in the relationship dies or develops a major health issue.
Online tools and mind maps
Illustrating your financial situation with charts and graphs is a great idea that might help your spouse become a little more involved. Morningstar’s Portfolio X-Ray tool includes a variety of images that help illustrate your financial situation. Websites for most major brokerage firms also include some visual tools. Schwab, for example, offers a Portfolio Checkup and a bar graph illustrating your account’s monthly income from dividends and interest income. Vanguard has a Portfolio Watch tool and a variety of performance illustrations, tools, and calculators.
A mind map, which we used with clients when I worked for a financial advisory firm, can be another way to picture your entire financial situation on one page. There are various softwaretemplates for drawing a mind map, or you can simply sketch it out with a large sheet of paper and a pencil. Start with your names at the center of the page. Then draw spokes connecting to various categories, such as names of other family members; investment accounts; real estate and other assets, insurance policies, estate plans, key goals and values, and contact information for accountants, estate planners, and other professionals. It can be helpful to go through the mind map together and make any updates needed at least once a year.
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Other ways to communicate about money
A few other ideas—though not related to charts and graphs—might also be useful.
I like the idea of putting together a net worth statement that itemizes cash, taxable accounts, real estate, retirement accounts, and debt for each member of the couple as well as items owned jointly. It’s a good idea to update this document at least once a year and discuss it as a couple. If you set up the document as a spreadsheet, you can include columns with additional information such as account numbers, what each account is used for, which accounts are subject to required minimum distributions, or tax issues like potential capital gains.
Many couples also put together a binder (sometimes humorously called a “Doomsday Book”) that contains information about where to find important paperwork, insurance policies, how bills are paid, what each account is for, steps the surviving spouse will need to take, final wishes, and any other critical information.
A well-qualified financial adviser can bridge the information gap
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Finally, you could consider working with a good financial adviser, who can help involve your spouse in financial matters while you’re still living and step in to fully manage investments and personal finance decisions if you pass away before your spouse. Make sure the adviser holds the Certified Financial Planner designation and charges fees that are reasonable. Although a 1% fee is still the industry standard for accounts of $1 million or less, it’s possible to find advisers who charge significantly less, including a few who price their services based on hours worked instead of a percentage of assets under management.
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This article was provided to The Associated Press by Morningstar. For more personal finance content, go to https://www.morningstar.com/personal-finance.
Amy C. Arnott, CFA, is a portfolio strategist for Morningstar and co-host of The Long View podcast.
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If you have ever taken out a mortgage, you’ll know there are a lot of requirements to meet. You may need to put down a certain amount and have a debt-to-income ratio below a certain threshold. You may also run into limits on how much you can borrow or what sources of income the lender will count.
These rules do not apply to all mortgages — just to conforming mortgages, which is what the majority of borrowers take out. However, mortgage lenders are increasingly offering what are known as nonconforming loans, or mortgages that do not “comply with every one of the strict standards put in place after the housing crisis,” said The Wall Street Journal. While “still a small portion,” the “share of mortgages using alternative lending practices” has “doubled in size over the past three years.”
What are nonconforming loans?
A nonconforming mortgage is a “type of home loan that doesn’t meet some or all of the guidelines that make them eligible for purchase by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,” said Bankrate. These are the government-sponsored entities that “support much of the secondary mortgage market in the U.S.,” meaning they often purchase resold mortgages.
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Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have “federal rules that limit the purchase of loans deemed relatively risk-free,” said Investopedia. Loans that meet these guidelines are conforming loans; loans that do not are nonconforming. To be a conforming loan, a mortgage must fall under a certain loan amount, and the borrower must meet specific criteria when it comes to their credit score, debt-to-income ratio and loan-to-value ratio.
Effectively, any home loan that does not align with these stipulations is considered nonconforming. Examples include jumbo loans, government-backed loans, bridge loans and interest-only loans.
Why do people get them?
There are a wide range of reasons people may opt for a nonconforming mortgage. For one, “you may have no choice but to choose a nonconforming jumbo loan if you want to buy an expensive property,” said Rocket Mortgage. These loans can also provide more flexibility when it comes to the type of property you purchase, your credit score and your down payment amount.
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Nonconforming loans additionally “offer an opportunity for home buyers who might not otherwise qualify for traditional loans because they are self-employed or hold their wealth in assets such as real estate,” said the Journal.
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What are the drawbacks?
For starters, there are fewer lenders offering them “since they pose a higher risk to the bank or mortgage lender,” said Yahoo Finance. That said, availability can vary depending on the specific type, as “some nonconforming loans (like FHA mortgages) are common, while others (like USDA loans) can be harder to find.”
Nonconforming loans also “generally carry a higher interest rate for the borrower,” said the Journal, given the increased risk to the lender. Still, this can vary by loan type. For instance, “FHA, VA and USDA loans usually have lower interest rates,” while “less common nonconforming loans, such as bridge loans, often have higher interest rates,” said Yahoo Finance. There is also the possibility that a nonconforming loan “could have an unusual repayment schedule or other features that make it harder to repay,” said Bankrate.
