Betting Out of Despair: Why Gen Z Has Swapped Stocks for Prediction Markets and “Financial Nihilism”

Modern youth in the United States is radically changing its approach to money, and the reason is deep disappointment in the classical economic model. As fresh data from the Northwestern Mutual Planning & Progress study shows, among Generation Z (the age group from 18 to 29), the so-called "financial nihilism" is rapidly gaining momentum. Feeling an insurmountable gap between their own opportunities and the financial successes of previous generations, zoomers are increasingly abandoning conservative saving methods. Reliable but slow investments are now being replaced with extremely risky assets.

The numbers speak for themselves: nearly one third of surveyed Gen Z representatives are already actively wagering real money on prediction markets (on platforms such as Polymarket or Kalshi) or are involved in betting. The most alarming aspect of this statistic is how young people justify their choice. About 80% of those who choose ultra-risky instruments sincerely believe that this is their only chance to break through the glass ceiling. They believe that only this way can they achieve ambitious financial goals and get everything here and now, since traditional saving methods no longer work and seem meaningless to them.