A Brief To-Do List for my Fellow Adult Gen-Zers (and Beyond)
Every generation needs a financial to-do list. As a planner by profession (and by nature), I couldn’t resist putting one together for my own generation.
To my fellow Gen-Zers: I know you’re busy with school, work, athletics, philanthropic endeavors, and generally figuring out this thing called life, with goals a mile long and a to-do list even longer. Money decisions tend to get pushed to the bottom of that list, not because they don’t matter, but because they rarely feel urgent until they suddenly are. This to-do list is for you.
So much of your life revolves around money, and the earlier you set yourself up well, the more flexibility and opportunity you create for your future. I write this letter to you as an added (but important) addendum to your already long to-do list. And I challenge you to complete or make progress on the following five things before the end of 2026 (and then let us know about how it went!). And to the non-Gen Zers reading this on behalf of a child, grandchild, colleague, or mentee, consider this your cheat sheet to pass along.
1. Build credit. But more importantly, PROTECT IT!
Credit is an important financial tool as it impacts many of our financial decisions from buying a home or renting an apartment to getting on a monthly plan to purchase a cell phone. Building a good credit score takes time, so it is good to start small and start early.
The best piece of advice here, however, is to make sure you protect your credit score! If you aren’t careful, things can spiral quickly out of control, and you can land in a position that is hard to get out of. One missed payment can undo months of good behavior and high interest rates on purchases you cannot fully pay off can turn into a much bigger expense.
You can start by opening one credit card and putting a small recurring payment on that card. If you can’t pay it off this month, don’t put it on the card.
If you want to get into the nitty gritty, learn more about credit and debt with this webinar.
2. Create an estate plan
I know this may feel like it belongs much later in life, but it doesn’t.
Once you turn 18, you are legally an adult and your parents no longer have automatic say in your care or decisions, so it is important that you establish an estate plan. You might just think that estate planning is only useful when you pass away, but it’s also useful in situations where you might be unable to make decisions for yourself because of a serious accident or illness.
Estate planning is all about making sure that your wishes are known and having your estate plan in place keeps you in control and lets you decide who makes decisions if you can’t. This includes things like who can have access to information about your healthcare decisions (as well as make them if you’re unable to do so), your money and finances, and even your personal belongings and online accounts (social media, passwords, etc.).
Having an estate plan in place makes things much easier and less stressful for your family or friends if something happens. No longer will they have to guess what you wanted or who gets what. The estate plan will have all your wishes laid out on a legal document that no one can change.
You should work with an estate planning attorney to discuss what documents you need based on your specific situation. The common documents are a Will, Living Will, Durable Power of Attorney, Healthcare Power of Attorney, and HIPAA Authorization. If you need a recommendation for an attorney, reach out to us and we’d be happy to make a referral.
3. Get fluent in money
Financial literacy is the ability to understand how money works in your life – how you earn it, spend it, save it, borrow it, and protect it. Said another way, it is about knowing the “rules of the game” well enough so that you don’t get yourself into a bad situation.
Now, you don’t need to be a financial expert (that is why you hire a financial planner!), learn all the details of every new tax code (if you are curious, we share timely information in a digestible way), or become a day trader (which we strongly recommend against! Invest in a grounded way). Being fluent in money is about understanding the basics and being curious enough to ask the right people good questions.
Here are a few places to start, but go deeper if this feels easy to you:
- Understanding your paycheck
Pull up your paystub – do you understand what each deduction represents? Are you contributing to a 401(k)? Are you getting an employer match? It’s your hard-earned money; you should know where it’s going. - Looking at compound growth
You have a superpower and that is time. Money invested in your 20s has decades to grow for you. Compound growth is simple math, but the power of the return is exponential. - Getting familiar with the basics of the stock market and bond market
Bring it back to the basics – what is a stock and what is a bond? Understand how they work and what different types of investments are.
It is important to understand the systems that you are contributing to and interacting with. I am posing this challenge to you here and also encouraging you to reach out to our team about any of these questions! We want to be your first call.
4. Build a freedom fund
You’ve heard us talk about an emergency fund, but I am proposing a rebrand! A freedom fund is cash set aside so that you can, yes, be set in the face of an emergency, but can also have the flexibility to take on new opportunities with confidence.
The emergency fund should be 3-6 months’ worth of necessary expenses (think rent, insurance, food, everything you must pay to live in the face of no other income) and then you can build on top of that to stash cash in your freedom fund.
5. Live Big®
I was recently scrolling through Instagram comments on a video about three friends who were simply having the best time being together and one of the comments said, “oh you are RICH.” In reflecting on that comment, it had nothing to do with the amount of money those friends had, what they were wearing, or an expensive trip they were taking. It was about having a life that was rich with love, laughter, friendship, and giving to one another. That is Live Big®. So, as I close, I would implore you to first envision what Live Big® means to you and then pursue it.