Gen Z is focused on their finances, but one thing they’re not investing in is romance.
Bank of America’s recent Better Money Habits report found that of 915 Gen Z adults in the U.S. surveyed, 53% of them were spending $0 each month on dating. Additionally, a third of respondents said they spent less than $100 per month on dates. This dearth of dating spending was nearly identical across genders.
Gen Z, whose upbringing was marked by the 2008 financial crisis, a pandemic, and now mounting economic concerns, has developed pervasive financial anxiety, setting lofty goals of saving for retirement and investing in the stock market earlier than the previous generations. But the pressure to find financial security has meant looking for love is not a priority.
“Instead of spending big on dating in particular, Gen Z is choosing to be really intentional with their money,” Ryan Viktorin, vice president and financial consultant at Fidelity Investments, told Fortune. “They’re going for low-cost hangouts and skipping fancy dinners and also having real conversations about money really early on.”
“It’s not that they’re not interested in dating, so to speak, but it’s that we see a lot of them really thinking ahead,” she added.
