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# Gen Z Started Earlier (And Is Still Behind)
- URL: https://blog.ruthinvestment.com/gen-z-started-earlier-and-is-still-behind/
- Published: 2026-08-21T02:21:07.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-07T03:25:44.000Z
- Description: Gen Z began investing a decade earlier than boomers and is still behind. Why starting early is not the same as reaching the tools that compound.
- Author: Ruth Investment

Gen Z started investing earlier than the generation that got the house. The average Gen Z'er began saving for retirement at 24, the average baby boomer began at 34.

> [More than a third of 25-year-olds in 2024 had moved significant money into an investment account since turning 22, up from 6% in 2015](https://www.jpmorganchase.com/institute/all-topics/household-financial-health/a-decade-in-the-market-how-retail-investing-behavior-has-shifted-since-2015?ref=blog.ruthinvestment.com). (*The Hill, The Feed, August 2026, citing Investopedia, JPMorganChase Institute and Vanguard*)

By every measure anyone actually tells young people to hit, this generation is ahead.

So the question worth asking is why a generation that started a decade earlier than its grandparents still lives at home in large numbers, still reports feeling behind, and still talks about money like the ending is already written?

It is not a discipline problem, and **it never was**.

It is a reality that if the wealthy and corporations can use borrowing power and policy influence to outpace Gen Z returns, then it is incumbent on Gen Z to take corresponding action to keep up (or face the alternative of being left behind...).

A house was an appreciating asset you could own early, with borrowed money, and live inside while it did its work. Our parents and grandparents captured the delta measured by: *the appreciating value of their homes less the borrowing rate.* 

We believe the elements of the strategy **remain** today, and that a long time horizon can support and enable the next generation to utilize its borrowing power by capturing the delta measured by: *the market return over the investment period less the borrowing rate over the same period.* 

Gen Z have already done the hard part, what is missing is a tool built for it. That is what Ruth is: broad market exposure, earlier, with non-recourse capital that won’t leave you owing more than you put in.

Join the early access waitlist at ruthinvestment.com.

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*Ruth is launching soon. Registration as an investment adviser is pending; Ruth is not yet licensed and is not currently providing advisory services.*

*This is for informational purposes only and is not financial advice. Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal.*