Gen Z has made a different kind of text feel normal: "Can't do dinner this month, saving up the extra cash." They don't bother with an excuse — they just tell you what their money is doing and what they can't do because of it.
That text has a name now, and the name started as a joke.
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On Dec. 29, 2023, comedian and writer Lukas Battle posted a TikTok announcing "loud budgeting" as the opposite of quiet luxury. His example: telling a friend he'd rather not spend gas money to come hear about their ex for three hours (1). The video was a hit, passing 1.5 million views. "It definitely started as a joke," he told CNN a few weeks later — before admitting the response had kind of sold him on his own idea (2).
Bank of America has been tracking the joke since 2024, when 38% of Gen Z said they did it. In the bank's 2026 Better Money Habits study, that went up to 42% — almost half of Gen Z now say they tell friends, directly at that, which plans they can and can't afford (3).
People have spent the last two years arguing online about whether that makes Gen Z honest or just loud. That debate is free. The part that actually matters is where saying a number out loud can cost you something — once in federal law, and once in what shows up on your paycheck.
Start with the thing everyone gets wrong about the grandparents.
Boomers aren't silent about money. In fact, (4)39% of them report talking about it with their friends. However, ask what they earn, and that drops to 3%. They'll discuss almost anything with a price tag — just not the one on themselves.
What you paid is a deal you can brag about. What you earn isn't.
That's the wall Gen Z is actually knocking down, and pretty much the only one. On money talk in general, they're not even the chattiest generation — millennials edge them out, 62% to 60%. When it comes to salary, though, Gen Z pulls ahead: 27% talk salary with friends, compared with 20% of millennials. Gen X is down at 12%.
"That's a big number," Bank of America President of Consumer, Retail and Preferred Holly O'Neill told Forbes, adding as a member of Gen X, that's definitely something she didn't do at their age (5).
Source: Yahoo Finance Top News — This article was automatically imported from the source. Read full article at original source →
