“It’s myth Gen Z not financially savvy; system obviously broken as stagnant wages not keeping up with times”

 

THERE is a popular perception that the older generation had sharper financial acumen and could better manage money matters. By extension, the younger generation are said not to be very good at this.

This line of thinking was highlighted in a post on X by self-described satirist and social critic tokcin (@tokcin70) who sought to challenge this popular misconception.

Refuting the myth that Gen Z (persons born between 1997 and 2012) are not financially savvy, he uses how own two kids as examples.

Both are Gen Z fresh grads earning salaries between RM2,500 and RM3,000 per month but despite living under their parents’ roof, they hardly muster any savings after toll, fuel, parking and other daily expenses are deducted.

This is without factoring in the Perbadanan Tabung Pendidikan Tinggi Nasional (PTPTN) study loans. 

He argued that his kids aren’t isolated cases but share a reality faced by many fresh grads trying to survive in the big, bad city.

People aren’t thinking of year-end bonuses when they are busy trying to make it through the month as rising cost of living bites ever deeper.

Underlining the hard, bitter truth, the poster argued that the issue isn’t that Gen Z aren’t good at saving but that salaries are no longer aligned with actual living costs.

The post was in response to another thread lamenting that the child’s monthly wage of RM1,900 was not enough for life in the big city. 

The post has generated 339.8K views at time of writing with many fin-experts keen to share their two sen on the topic.

The poster also further observed that the number of differing opinions alone indicated that the system was not working. 

There were, of course, those who harked back to bygone eras when they could survive on much lower wages.

It was noted that much depended on the person’s spending habits. It was also pointed out that having one’s own wheels was a luxury that sucked up a lot of expenses.

This notion of cars being an unnecessary expense was seconded by this commenter who claimed his son was able to put aside some cash every month when he was using the MRT.

Having a car in the city was indeed very costly and he advised his son to use two-wheel transport in a bid to cut expenses. “Live according to your means,” was the sound advice here.

A Gen Z commenter earning in the same bracket claimed it was possible to have some savings every month. But she also jokingly mentioned that this was perhaps due to her “being a pauper who was afraid of spending money”!

One disgruntled commenters pointed out that those who compare with yesteryears fail to account for inflation.

Regardless whether one thinks that a certain wage is enough to survive in the city, one thing everyone seems to be in agreement is that the cost of living is rising, silently. Cue key phrases such as “I don’t need that” or “maybe next month”. 

- Focus Malaysia