Gen Z Is Giving Up Food to Pay Bills

Times are so hard for many Gen Z-ers that they can no longer afford food.

In a new survey from Assurance IQ, 44 percent of Gen Z-ers (born 1997-2013) said they had skipped a meal in order to pay their monthly bills. That was a giant leap from the rest of respondents, who only said this 30, 23 and 10 percent of the time respectively for millennials (born 1981-1996), Gen X (1965-1980) and Baby Boomers (1955-1964).

According to Kevin Thompson, a financial planner and the founder of 9i Capital Group, Gen Z has had less time to accumulate wealth and so their grocery budgets, and potentially overall health, is likely to take a hit the most.

"Gen Z is likely to skip meals due to the fact they are likely to have the least amount of assets due to time and ability by which to save," Thompson told Newsweek. "Gen Z and millennials have a bullet on their backs with high debt levels accumulated during college, and the job market for them drying up right in front of their faces."

While the nationwide student debt level stands at $1.77 trillion, Gen Z has graduated into an uncertain, remote first job market amid the coronavirus pandemic. And once they were in their careers, they often faced mass layoffs or low starting salaries.

"It is a difficult situation to know that you have accumulated a substantial debt burden, and your degree will not be sufficient in which to cover it, or the job you thought you had is no longer there due to an ever-changing job market," Thompson said.

Across the board, Americans were feeling the hit of the economy on their wallet. Roughly two-thirds of all Americans said they had to make tradeoffs to pay their monthly bills, ranging from using credit cards, selling their possessions or even in some cases, going hungry.

The tradeoffs were especially pronounced in households earning below $75,000. Of this group, 36 percent said they were very to extremely stressed every day.

Altogether, nearly half, or 46 percent, of Americans said they were even delaying getting medical care due to the financial costs. That was especially high in Gen Z at 67 percent.

And there doesn't seem to be much hope for the future, either among Gen Z or across American age groups. More than a fifth (21 percent) said they expected their finances to become less predictable in the next three years.

With inflation set at 3.2 percent, Americans are seeing higher costs on rent, cars, gas and food, and often groceries are the easiest cut to make.

"Skipping a meal seems like savings on the fringes," Hao Dang, a financial planner and investment strategist with Consilio Wealth Advisors, told Newsweek. "How big of a portion has rent been or how big of a car payment that the respondents are dealing with seems like a bigger question to me."

To Bryan Kuderna, a financial planner and host of The Kuderna Podcast, Gen Z's skipping meal trend might also be reflective of their view on meals and budgeting. While earlier generations might have opted for a cheap peanut butter and jelly sandwich when finances were low, Gen Z values enjoyment, and that may include meals out.

"I think we're getting further away from frugality and more toward enjoyment," Kuderna told Newsweek. "Boomers learned from survivors of the Great Depression, millennials were taught what was remembered from their Boomer parents, now Gen Z is far removed from such times and are raised on social media and from a very young age bombarded with advertising and new expenses vying for their dollars."